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LETTERS 



FROM 



THE CONTINENT. 



LETTERS 



FROM 



THE CONTINENT 



( 

CONTAINING SKETCHES OF FOREIGN SCENERY AND MANNERS; 

WITH HINTS AS TO THE DIFFERENT MODES OF 

TRAVELLING, EXPENSE OF LIVING, ETC. 



BY 



THE REV. WEEVER WALTER, M. A, 

of st. John's college, Cambridge. 



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH : AND 

T, CADELL, STRAND, LONDON, 

MDCCCXXVIIL 



&1 

*i** 



Edinburgh : — Duncan Stevenson, 
Printer to the University. 



TO 

THE REV. JAMES WALTER, 

THE F^ .LOWING PAGES 

ARE INSCRIBED 

BY 

HIS DUTIFUL AND AFFECTIONATE SON, 

THE AUTHOR. 



The following Letters, intended to describe faith- 
fully and correctly the scenes and circumstances of 
foreign travel, are offered to the public with a degree 
of diffidence, which none can duly estimate, but those 
who, like the author, appear " in print" for the first 
time. The only merit they can lay claim to is that 
of authenticity ; and, though this constitutes but 
slight ground on which to hope for the reader's ap- 
probation, it is trusted that the author may safely 
count on his indulgence. 

Edinburgh, Feb. 1, 1828. 



LETTERS 

FROM 

THE CONTINENT. 



LETTER I. 

ROTTERDAM BOOMPJES SLEDGES TRADE 

CATHEDRAL. 

Rotterdam, April 27, 1826. 

We embarked from the Custom-house, London, on 
board the Queen of the Netherlands steam packet, 
yesterday morning at eight o'clock. The day was 
fine, and we enjoyed to the full the rich and animat- 
ing scene which the Thames always presents. On 
gaining the open sea, however, all enjoyment was 
at an end ; the wind blew very fresh, the ship rolled 

tremendously, and but I need not say what 

followed. We landed here exactly at noon, having 
spent twenty-eight hours on the water. What a 
change from England to Holland ! I don't believe 
there can be a greater contrast between London and 
Canton, than between London and Rotterdam. The 



* ROTTERDAM. 

town is so intersected with canals, that it consists 
not so much of streets, as of a succession of quays, 
which, for the most part, have a row of remarkably- 
fine elm trees along the water's edge. Of these, the 
handsomest is the one on which we landed, called 
the Boorapjes ; it is little short of a mile in length, 
and contains a number of very fine houses, each 
vying with the other in neatness. The largest 
ships come close to shore and discharge their valu- 
able cargoes into warehouses, which bear the ap- 
pearance of so many palaces : this may especially 
be remarked of the East India Company's house. 

The Dutch, though an industrious race, as the 
very existence of their country proves, are yet not 
fond of exerting themselves for trifles. For exam- 
ple, the ladies, who stay much at home, but are 
nevertheless curious as to what is going on out of 
doors, cannot be at the trouble of rising from their 
seats at the window every time a passing carriage 
excites their curiosity, so in order to gratify this 
innate propensity with as little inconvenience to 
themselves as possible, a prism-shaped frame is fast- 
ened outside, about a foot from the window, having 
two of its sides furnished with a mirror. By means 
of this a person sitting by the side of a window is 
enabled to see objects approaching in both directions. 
A porter with a load on his back is seldom seen : 



ROTTERDAM. 3 

packages, even such as do not exceed fifty pounds in 
weight, are consigned to a sledge, and drawn by a 
horse perhaps sixteen hands high. The sledges are 
composed of two long pieces of wood, joined to- 
gether by two cross pieces at short distances from 
each end. Not being shod with iron, and being fre- 
quently drawn along at a rapid rate over a rough 
pavement, they would no doubt take fire, were it 
not for the following very simple contrivance. On 
the fore part of the sledge is fixed a barrel of water, 
with a spile hole just over each side-piece : at each 
step the horse takes, the water spirts out, moistens 
the pavement, and not only facilitates the motion 
of the sledge, but prevents its igniting by constant 
friction. 

Trade is at a very low ebb, as is the case, I be- 
lieve, with most of the Dutch towns. The number 
of inhabitants amounts to nearly 60,000, whose 
chief dependence is on trade and its proceeds : the 
consequence is, that there exists mueh poverty a- 
mong the lower orders. The local and national 
taxes are very high ; there is not only a house and 
window tax, but a door tax, a chimney tax, and a 
furniture tax : a poor man who rents an apartment 
at fifty florins # a year, pays taxes to the amount of 



* About L. 4 sterling. 
a2 



4 ROTTERDAM. 

ten. Provisions are dear in consequence of the high 
duties exacted on all articles of consumption. There 
is one evil belonging to Rotterdam in common with 
most towns in Holland, which every traveller ought 
to be aware of, in order that he may guard against 
its pernicious effects : I allude to the water, which is 
so bad, that any one not habituated to it, who par- 
takes freely of it, will hardly escape an attack of 
dysentery. The statue of Erasmus in the market 
place, and the Great Church, are the objects most 
worthy of observation. The highly talented re- 
former, is represented with a book in his hand, and 
in the attitude of deep meditation ; the statue is in 
bronze, and, as a work of art, possesses no very 
great share of merit. The Cathedral is an immense 
building, whose proportions are partly hidden and 
partly spoiled by the shops and houses, which, with 
a mistaken indifference as to " outward show," 
have been permitted to rise up between the buttres- 
ses. The tower is remarkably fine, and the interior 
is admirably arranged, both as far as regards the 
preacher and the congregation. The church con- 
tains some good monuments, of which those to the 
memory of Admirals de Witt and Brakel, are wor- 
thy of the great names they are intended to hand 
down to posterity. 



ROTTERDAM. 5 

There are in Rotterdam several societies or clubs, 
associated for purposes of amusement and recrea- 
tion. Their places of meeting are for the most part 
out of the town, and consist of gardens, billiard, and 
ball rooms, skittle grounds and smoking houses, 
whither the wealthy burgers resort after the toil of 
business is over, to indulge in an hour or two's re- 
laxation. We had an introduction to one of these 
pleasure gardens; but the season for resorting to 
them was not yet begun. 



LETTER II. 

UTRECHT— NIMUEGEN STEAM PACKET — C0LN. 

Coin, May 2, 1826. 

Before saying any thing to you of this place, I 
must give you a brief sketch of our journey from 
Rotterdam. Not wishing to go all the way by water, 
we set out on the 29th ultimo, at eight in the morn- 
ing, in the Diligence for Utrecht, in order that we 
might be able to meet the steam packet at Nimue- 
gen the following day. The first few miles of our 
road lay through a country the most singular in the 
world : I would almost describe it as water with 
some small portion of land, so numerous and wide 
are the ditches, and so narrow are the fields they 
enclose. Neatness, however, extraordinary neat- 
ness is the characteristic of Holland ; and wherever 
you look it is sure to meet your eye. For some 
distance we travelled along a road paved with bricks 
turned down edgeways, and so smooth and even, 
that it was with difficulty we kept ourselves awake. 
The small inn where we first changed horses was 
neatness itself : the space in front of it was nicely 



UTRECHT. 7 

sprinkled over with clean sand, and he must have 
been a barbarian who could have entered the house 
without carefully wiping off every particle of dirt 
which might chance to adhere to his shoes. 

On approaching Utrecht, the country assumes a 
new and more interesting appearance. Numerous 
country houses, pleasantly situated by the road side, 
show that the Dutchman can occasionally leave his 
shop or counting house, and betake himself (but 
always with his pipe) to a distance from the fatigues 
of business. 

The remains of the church at Utrecht are on a 
very grand scale, and lead one to form a lofty con- 
ception of the building when entire. There is no- 
thing else in the town of any interest. We left it 
at six a. M. on the 30th, in the Nimuegen Diligence, 
which was disagreeably crowded, the inside passen- 
gers being twelve in number. In compensation, 
however, for this annoyance, we had a fine rich 
country to travel through ; magnificent country, or 
pleasure houses, as they are called, follow one ano- 
ther in quick succession ; they are for the most part 
embosomed in woods, composed of the finest pos- 
sible timber trees. The grounds appear laid out 
with great taste ; and we readily pardoned some of 
the more ambitious proprietors, who, because nature 
has denied them mountains, have thrown up artifi- 



8 NIMUEGEN. 

cial mounds in their shrubberies. The soil, though 
light, appears to be very productive. 

For the last fifteen miles before reaching Nimue- 
gen, our fears were kept constantly on the alert by 
the state of the road, which is elevated on a narrow 
bank about twenty feet above the level of the coun- 
try : the bank is so narrow, that it is only here and 
there that two carriages can pass one another ; add 
to this, that there is scarcely any part of the road 
protected by parapets, that our coachman was more 
than half intoxicated, and you will easily believe me 
when I tell you, that we did not much enjoy our 
afternoon's drive. After crossing first the Rhine, 
and afterwards the Whaal, which are separated by 
a very small interval,* we arrived at Nimuegen 



* It is only a few miles above Nimuegen that the Rhine is 
separated into these two branches. Tacitus speaks of the two 
rivers in the following terms, which are literally applicable to 
their present state. " Rhenus, uno alveo continuus, aut modi- 
cas insulas circumveniens, apud principium agri Batavi, velut in 
duos amnes dividitur; servatque nomen, et violentiam cursus, 
qua Germaniam prsevehitur, donee oceano misceatur : ad Gal- 
licam ripam latior et placidior adfluens 3 verso cognomento 
Vahalem accolae dicunt : mox id quoque vocabulum mutat 
Mosa flumine, ejusque immenso ore eundem in oceanum efiun- 
ditur."— Tac. Ann. lib. ii. 6. 



DUSSELDORF. 9 

about half past three in the afternoon. We took a 
few turns on the old ramparts, which are now con- 
verted into most delightful promenades, command- 
ing a fine view of the surrounding country; tra- 
versed one or two of the best streets, which are very- 
neat and regular, and then yielding to an increasing 
rain, betook ourselves to our inn for the night. 

The following morning at four we embarked on 
board the steam packet, a very fine vessel, and con- 
taining excellent accommodations. We were driven 
onwards against a powerful current, at the rate of 
five or six miles an hour, by two engines of thirty 
horse power. The water being low, and the banks 
high, it was only on approaching some town or vil- 
lage that any thing was to be seen beyond the limits 
of the river. It was ten o'clock at night before we 
reached Dusseldorf : our fellow passengers set out 
in eager haste to procure beds in the town ; but the 
lateness of the hour induced us to dispense with this 
trouble, and having obtained the captain's leave, we 
laid ourselves down on the benches of the cabin, flat- 
tering ourselves that we should have a comfortable 
night's rest. But, alas ! after we had lain about 
two hours, the boatmen began to break the coals 
on deck, which were to supply the fires next day : 
from that moment it was impossible to sleep. How- 
ever, on the return of our fellow travellers to the 



10 COLN. 

vessel, the marks they bore on their faces and 
hands, satisfied us, that if we had fared ill, they 
had fared worse. 

It was half an hour after noon when we landed 
here : gratified on the whole with our voyage. The 
steam packet certainly is a most excellent convey- 
ance; the vessel is so large and so well arranged, 
that very little smell from the engine room pene- 
trates the large cabin. Whenever we tired of look- 
ing at the dancing waters of the noble river, we 
had only to turn into the cabin, which is a spacious 
apartment, and write letters, or read any of the 
most popular English or French publications of the 
day, of which there is a tolerably good supply on 
board. — The living is good and sufficiently reason- 
able. The fare is not extravagant, being thir- 
teen florins # for travelling about 100 miles. — The 
principal objects of attention here are the Cathedral 
with its contents, and Rubens's celebrated picture 
of the crucifixion of St. Peter. The cathedral, so 
much of it at least as is completed, is the ne plus 
nltra of Gothic splendor. Of the towers, one is only 
raised about thirty feet from the foundation, the 
other is much more advanced, and, as far as it 
goes, is a model of elegance. The main body of 

* About L.l, Is. 



COLN. 11 

the church is only raised to half its originally in- 
tended height, and is covered with a mean looking 
wooden roof. The choir alone is finished, and no- 
thing can exceed the elegance of its form, the light- 
ness of its windows, and the high finishing of 
the sculptured ornaments ; the light too, admitted 
through painted glass, has something sacred in its 
hue ; yet the effect of all this is sadly diminished 
by gaudy and paultry ornaments, which are con- 
sidered indispensable in the celebration of divine 
worship, according to the forms of the Roman 
Catholic Church. Instead of stalls richly carved, 
such as we see in some of our cathedrals, the choir 
is hung with tapestry, beautiful indeed, but sadly 
misplaced; while upon the high altar stands the 
sanctuary in the form of a Grecian temple; I 
could only exclaim, what taste ! and then follow 
the sacristan to the tomb of the three kings, I can 
hardly say, supposed to be the three kings or wise 
men, who came guided by a star to worship the in- 
fant Saviour, yet certainly represented as such: 
even their names are recorded on a brazen tablet in 
front of the shrine. The tomb itself is shut out 
from the public view, and is only seen on payment 
of five franks ; it is richly studded with precious 
stones of every description, and would look well in the 
show rooms of Messrs Rundell and Bridges, but here 



12 COLN. 

it is certainly out of place. The stones about it are 
said to be worth six million of francs. * The silver 
shrine of St. Engelbert is a beautiful piece of work- 
manship, and is much more appropriated to its si- 
tuation. The cathedral is now undergoing repairs, 
which are estimated at the enormous sum of 
700,000 f Prussian dollars ; but you must not un- 
derstand from this that there is any idea of com- 
pleting the structure ; such a consummation, how- 
ever devoutly to be desired, can never be effected, 
unless the finances of his Prussian majesty be in- 
creased much beyond their present condition. 

Rubens's picture J is a noble specimen of the art ; 
it was presented by him to the church in which he 
was christened. The Town Hall is a fine old Go- 
thic structure, and its portico is made the deposito- 
ry of some highly interesting historical monuments, 
inscriptions speaking the gratitude of the ancient 



* About L.40,000. f About L.100,000. 

J The crucifixion of St. Peter. — At the back of this picture 
is but an indifferent copy : they are contained in the same 
frame, which revolves on a pivot ; and the Sacristan who is a 
man of some humour, not unfrequently allows the uninitiated to 
exhaust their praises on the counterfeit, and then going behind 
the frame gives it a push, and exhibits to the mortified would- 
be-amateur the original painting. 



COLN. 13 

inhabitants, the Ubii, to the different Roman em- 
perors who had protected or shown them favours. 
Coin is as little attractive in appearance as any 
town can well be ; its streets are narrow, and ill 
paved, the houses high and gloomy looking ; there 
are several open places, which, though they have 
the general appellation, have few of the essential 
characteristics of squares : the hay-market however 
may be excepted. The inhabitants bear a high re- 
putation for urbanity and good manners, and are 
very attentive to strangers, who happen to be pro- 
vided with even one respectable introduction. The 
finest view of Coin is from the eastern extremity of 
the bridge over the Rhine ; the numerous towers, 
and spires, the variety and extent of the buildings 
which fill up the fore ground, the vessels crowded 
three or four deep along the quay, the perpetual 
swarm of passengers passing and repassing on the 
bridge ; and last of all, the noble river itself pursu- 
ing its course in silent rapidity, all conspire to form 
a picture worthy the pencil of a Teniers. 



LETTER III. 

HANSEATIC LEAGUE — COBLENTZ 

EHRENBREITSTEIN. 

Coblentz, May 7, 1826. 

The drive from Coin to this place cannot fail to 
be highly gratifying, even to the most fastidious 
searcher after the beauties of nature. After travel- 
ling for about twenty-five miles through a rich 
plain, cultivated like any garden, we entered the 
defile of the Rhine, so celebrated for its romantic 
scenery. Do not expect that I should give you a 
description of it ; in the language of poetry alone 
can it be pourtrayed with any degree of justice — all 
that the most skilful composer of ideal scenery 
could do with wood and water, hill and dale, mo- 
dern villages and ruined castles, has here been done, 
and is to be seen in every possible variety from 
Bonn to Bingen. The Rhine is here an impetuous 
river, there a placid lake ; the mountains here frown 
in threatening aspect, hanging over the agitated 
flood, there expand into graceful amphitheatres, 
clothed with the fruitful vine, while all between is 



COBLENTZ. 15 

one rich orchard. Here a peaceful village attracts 
the traveller's attention, there a pile of ruins perch- 
ed on the summit of a rocky hill, recals him to 
ages long gone by, when princes and barons were 
the highwaymen of the day. About the middle of 
the thirteenth century, these highborn robbers were 
so numerous, and their depredations so destructive 
of commerce, that the principal mercantile towns of 
Europe, all of them more or less interested in the 
cause, entered into a solemn league for protecting 
the navigation of the Rhine ; the formation of this 
league, called the Hanseatic League, was quickly 
followed by the demolition of all the strong holds 
along the banks of the river, which from being the 
terror of the navigator, were thus converted into 
the admiration of the future tourist. 

This town has a distinguishing air of neatness 
and regularity. The streets are wide, and some of 
the squares spacious and handsome. The principal 
object of attention is the celebrated fortress called 
Ehrenbreitstein, or the broad stone of honour. Be- 
fore giving you a description of its actual condition, 
I must give you a brief sketch of its eventful his- 
tory. There is every reason to believe that it was 
a strong-hold of the Romans in the time of the em- 
peror Julian, and that it underwent the fate of all 
their fortresses erected for the purpose of protecting 



16 EHRENBREITSTEIN. 

Gaul from the destructive incursions of the German 
tribes : but it is not till the twelfth century that it 
figures as a place of much importance. From that 
period, the possession of it seems to have been 
fiercely contested in the continual wars carried on 
between the Germans and French, It is first 
spoken of as in the possession of the Elector of 
Treves. In the " thirty years war," he having ad- 
mitted within it a French garrison, the Imperialists 
laid siege to it, and at length reduced it by starva- 
tion ; and it was not restored to the Electorate till 
the peace of Westphalia in 1649. During another 
war between these ever restless powers, towards the 
end of the seventeenth century, it sustained a long 
and terrible siege by a division of the Imperial army, 
but was not reduced to surrender. During the re- 
volutionary war, the French generals were well 
aware of its vast importance to them as command- 
ing the passage of the Rhine ; they laid siege to it 
in 1795, but were compelled to withdraw on the 
approach of the Austrians : the same occurred twice 
in 1796, and again in the following year. But in 
1798, when the Congress was sitting at Rastat, the 
siege was pushed with so much vigour, and the pro- 
visions of the fortress were reduced to so low an 
ebb, that it surrendered; and that it might not 
again be in a condition to impede their ambitious 



EHRENBREITSTEIN. 17 

designs in that direction, the fortifications were 
blown up, and the place rendered untenable. In 
this state it continued till the general peace in 1815, 
when it was ceded with Coblentz to Prussia. It is 
now, at an enormous expense, towards which the 
French were compelled to contribute very largely, 
not only restored, but so much improved and ex- 
tended, that military men have pronounced it to be 
impregnable. It contains quarters for 10,000 troops : 
it is now, even in time of peace, victualled for two 
years ; the only point, by which it is accessible, is 
mined, and ready to be blown up at a moment's 
warning. In short, it is the King's hobby.* We 
were permitted to ascend the hill and range about 
every part of the fortress except the citadel. The 
views from it are exceedingly beautiful. The town 
of Coblentz (Confluentia), lays extended immediate- 
ly beneath, and close at hand is seen the confluence 
of the Rhine and Moselle, whose waters continue per- 
fectly distinct for the distance of a couple of leagues, 
those of the former being of a pale clear colour, while 
those of the latter are of a muddy hue. But to re- 



* Since this was written, the works have been brought to a 
conclusion ; and all strangers are excluded from the fortress by 
the most peremptory orders. 

B 



18 EHRENBREITSTEIN. 

turn to the fortress : It rises to the height of 670 
feet above the level of the river, and notwithstand- 
ing that, is perforated by a shaft which descends be- 
low the bed of the river, which insures a constant 
supply of wholesome water for the garrison. The 
difficulty of conveying building materials to the 
summit, has given occasion to a simple contrivance, 
by means of which two horses can do the work, 
which it required sixteen to execute before. On 
the side next the river, an inclined plain has been 
cut in the face of the rock, reaching from the quay 
to the level of the citadel ; upon this are two iron 
rail ways, separated by a flight of steps, 670 in num- 
ber; two cars connected with each other by a chain, 
are kept constantly at work, one ascending with 
stone and lime, while the other descends loaded 
with rubbish, if there be any, or else empty ; the 
time occupied in delivering a load of stone at the 
works on the height is only fifteen minutes, and 
the labour is performed, as I have just said, by two 
horses. The head of the inclined plain is guarded 
by an iron gate; which is highly necessary, for it is 
frightful to look down, and would turn the steadiest 
head that was not habituated to such things. Two 
years ago an unfortunate soldier undertook for a 
wager to descend by it, but he had not proceeded a 
dozen of steps before he became giddy, lost his foot- 



COBLENTZ. 19 

ing, and was precipitated to the bottom, where he 
was taken up a mangled corpse. 

I shall conclude my Letter with an anecdote 
highly illustrative of the good humour and ready 
wit which is said to characterize the Russians. In 
1812, when Napoleon was on his way to join the 
grand army destined to subdue Russia, he slept at 
Coblentz, and caused this inscription to be engraved 
on a fountain just then completed in front of the 
hotel at which he had descended. " Memorable 
pour la Carapagne contre les Russes, 1812." The 
following year, after the memorable defeat of the 
French, a detachment of the Russian army took 
possession of Coblentz. Some unworthy citizen, 
desirous of gaining favour with the new comers, 
pointed out the inscription to the Russian com- 
mander ; expecting doubtless a reward for his pains, 
and to see the structure levelled with the ground. 
He was, however, disappointed ; the general ordered 
these words to be added to the inscription, " Vue et 
approve par nous, commandant Russe de la ville de 
Coblentz." The name of the prefet under whose 
auspices the first inscription was written, and also 
of the good humoured Russian who added the ap- 
pendix, form part of the inscription, but not having 
my tablets with me at the time, they have escaped 
my memory. 

b2 



LETTER IV. 



MAYENCE ITS HISTORY. 



Mayence, May 9. 

After a journey of two days, rendered disagree- 
able by continued rain, we arrived here yesterday at 
four p. m. The valley of the Rhine is more pre- 
eminently beautiful above than below Coblentz: 
the hills rise more abruptly from their bases; the 
river is confined within a narrower channel, and is 
therefore more impetuous ; and the ruins are at 
once on a grander scale, and more picturesque. 
The whole tract of country from Bonn to Bingen 
would richly repay a pedestrian for any inconveni- 
ences or fatigue he might incur in the expedition : 
if an antiquarian, the numerous ruins would pro- 
vide food for his fancy during a whole summer : if 
a mineralogist, there are mines to visit producing 
silver, and lead ore ; numerous masses of basalt, and 
other indications of volcanic processes : if an horti- 
culturist, he could not fail to be highly delighted, 
for the whole country is a garden ; the plain covered 
with pear, apple, or cherry trees, and the hill sides 



MAYENCE. 21 

devoted to the vine, which is here cultivated with 
the greatest care, and, as we all know, with very- 
considerable success. The amateur artist might 
find ample employment for his pencil, and fill a 
sketch book of no inconsiderable dimensions, and 
yet leave many points unexplored. In short, what- 
ever be a man's turn, he cannot fail to meet with 
much to interest and amuse him in such an excur- 
sion. 

But to return to Mayenee : it is a town of vast 
extent, contains some fine streets and squares, but 
possesses little to interest or detain the modern 
tourist : the population is very small compared with 
its extent, and there is in consequence an air of 
nakedness about it, which not a numerous garrison, 
with all its pomp and circumstance, can dissipate. 
But in an historical point of view, Mayenee is far 
from being devoid of interest : bear with me then, 
while I give you a brief sketch of its history, from 
the time of its being the head quarters of the Ro- 
man army destined for repressing the incursions of 
the German tribes, to the present day. 

It was about twenty years prior to the Christian 
era, that Drusus, a stepson of Augustus, took the 
command of the Roman army on the banks of the 
Rhine. His attention was of course immediately 
directed to the line of fortresses established along 



22 MAYENCE. 

the western bank of the river ; they were few in 
number, and separated by very considerable inter- 
vals. He increased their number to fifty : of these 
Magonciacum was the chief and most southern. 
This fortress was erected in the year 18 b. a, and 
the legions employed in its construction were the 
second and fourteenth. Under Trajan were laid 
the foundations of the Municipium, or city. In the 
year 79 a. d. the emperor Hadrian caused a stone 
bridge to be thrown over the Rhine, of which no 
traces now remain ; he also extended the works, 
and added to them two additional forts, styled Cas- 
tra Superna and Inferna. Magonciacum thus be* 
came the capital of the province of the higher Rhine. 
In the fourth century its inhabitants embraced Chris- 
tianity. About this time the Germans made an in- 
cursion into Gaul, and after having destroyed al- 
most all the Castra and towns erected and fostered 
by the Romans on the left bank of the river, were 
driven back by Julian. Towards the latter part of 
the same century, in the year 367, the Germans 
again invaded Gaul, and on Easter Day stormed 
and took Magonciacum, putting the garrison and 
the inhabitants to the sword. As the object of these 
restless barbarians was plunder, and not extension 
of territory, they seldom remained long in a van- 
quished country. Thus we find, that in the be- 



MAYENCE. 23 

ginning of the fifth century, Magonciacum was 
again become a place of importance. However, in 
a few years the Vandals inundated the country; 
Magonciacum, after a long siege, was reduced to 
surrender, and another massacre ensued. After a 
third restoration to tranquillity, it was once more, 
in 451, sacked by the Huns under Atila ; and, in a 
word, such was the critical situation of this place, 
that it was the continual scene of slaughter and de- 
vastation. It was not till the year 622, that Dago- 
bert, king of the Francs, seeing the great importance 
of Magonciacum for securing his dominions against 
the perpetual inroads of the northern tribes, entirely 
restored the fortress, and made to it considerable 
additions : he may be said to be the first founder of 
the town of Mayence. In the time of Charlemagne 
it was in a very flourishing condition, and that em- 
peror, whose designs upon Germany were very am- 
bitious, caused a wooden bridge to be thrown over 
the river, resting on the piers of the ancient bridge 
erected by the Romans, It lasted, however, but a 
very short time, being destroyed by fire. In the 
ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, Mayence con- 
tinued to prosper under the immediate rule of its 
archbishops, who held under the successors of 
Charlemagne. These at length, however, arrogated 
to themselves the sovereignty of Mayence and its 



24 MAYENCE. 

dependencies, declared themselves independent of 
the emperors, and even claimed a voice in their 
election. From these domestic rulers, now con- 
verted into cruel tyrants, the inhabitants were at 
length delivered by Adelbert the first, king of 
France, who took them under his protection, and 
gave them a patent of freedom, which was engraved 
on the metal doors of the church of Notre Dame. # 
After a long succession of wars, in which Mayence 
always had its share of suffering, we find it, in the 
year 1254, taking the lead in the formation of the 
famous Hanseatic League, for protecting the navi- 
gation of the Rhine. In the fifteenth century it 
became the birthplace and nursery of printing; and 
from the press of one Guttenberg the first printed 
Bible appeared in 1450. On the 8th of December 
1631, the great Gustavus Adolphus, at the head of 
a victorious army, sat down before it, and sum- 
moned it to surrender ; but it was not till the 13th 
of the same month that he succeeded in dislodging 
the garrison, which was composed of Spaniards, and 
took possession of the fortress. The Swedes re- 
mained masters of Mayence for five years, having 
sustained in that interval two successive sieges. 

* On the destruction of this church in ] 793, these doors 
were removed to the cathedral, where they now exist. 



MAYENCE. 25 

They were at length obliged to yield to Gallas, the 
commander of the army of the Catholics, this being 
the period of the war of the Reformation. In 1644, 
Mayence fell into the hands of the French, and, 
though with some intermission, continued under 
their rule till near the end of the century, when it 
was finally incorporated with the electorate of Hesse. 
Here follows a long series of years in which it en- 
joyed great prosperity, and acquired from its wealth 
and population the title of La Ville d'Or. With 
the year 1792 began a new series of calamities ; in 
that year it was taken by the French ; soon after, it 
was recovered by the Austrian army, and again 
taken, until, in the year 1797, it was ceded to 
France by the treaty of Campo Formio. After the 
famous battle of Leipsic, in 1813, Napoleon crossed 
the Rhine with his retreating army, and left a strong 
garrison, 30,000 men, in Mayence. In 1814 it was 
blockaded by the Russians, and, on the 4th of May 
1814, by virtue of the peace concluded at Paris, 
the allied army took possession of it, the French 
troops marching out with the honours of war. Fi- 
nally, at the congress of Vienna, Mayence was re- 
stored to the electorate of Hesse, with an entire 
sovereignty in civil matters, the administration of 
justice, and the finances. On the other hand, the 
citadel was declared a fortress of the Germanic con- 



26 MAYENCE. 

federation, and as such received a garrison composed 
of Austrians and Prussians in equal numbers. Thus 
the troops of Austria, Prussia, and of Hesse may be 
seen parading the streets at the same time ; and thus 
at last, after a series of contests carried on for near 
two thousand years, the Germans remain masters of 
the field. This brief sketch of the history of Mayence, 
with little variety, may be applied to all the towns 
planted along the left banks of the Rhine ; all were 
originally Roman stations, all have undergone a 
similar variety of reverses, and have terminated in 
becoming the property of those nations for whose 
subjugation they were originally designed. 



LETTER V. 

WORMS — SPIRE — STRASBOURG JOUR DE FETE — 

BASLE. 

Basle, May 16, 1826, 

Our journey from Mayence to this place occupi- 
ed six days, so that on looking at the map you will 
not be inclined to accuse us of flying over the 
ground, as some of our modern travellers do. Yet 
the country we passed through was far from being 
interesting ; one wide expanse of corn ground meets 
the eye in every direction, which, in spring espe- 
cially, is any thing but picturesque. North of Lau- 
terbourg, however, (where we entered the French 
territories, and experienced the politeness which ge- 
nerally characterizes the French donaniers) we tra- 
versed a fine forest of three or four leagues in ex- 
tent, and abounding in magnificent timber : it be- 
longs to the King of Bavaria, and doubtless affords 
his majesty most excellent sport; while passing 
through it on a former occasion, towards the dusk 
of the evening, I saw some beautiful white deer 
close to the road side, which allowed us to come 



28 WORMS AND SPIRE, 

within shot of them ; and there can be little doubt 
that all other denizens of the forest are here in great 
numbers. The towns, such as Worms and Spire, 
retain the marks of ancient magnificence, the former 
especially has some palaces on a princely scale ; but 
they have the appearance of being long time desert- 
ed by all who could well get away from them, and 
are Men iristes. The cathedrals at both these towns 
are noble edifices. I must not, however, class 
Strasbourg with Worms and Spire, the very en- 
trance to it over draw bridges, through covered ways, 
and all the paraphernalia of a fortification, to say 
nothing of the call for passports, and the visiting of 
luggage, prepared us for something more than the 
ordinary run of towns % nor were we disappointed. 
There is nothing new at Strasbourg, every thing 
wears the appearance of respectable antiquity : the 
streets too are wide, and the signs of an abundant 
and active population met us on every side. The 
Place d'armes is a fine square : the shops present a 
rich display of goods, as if there were really people 
to buy them ; and amongst the many I cannot help 
mentioning one containing most beautiful ornaments 
in polished steel, and gold and silver wire most ex- 
quisitely worked. The cathedral is a noble Gothic 
structure of the thirteenth century, the tower is a 
fine specimen of open work, and the windows are 



STRASBOURG. 29 

extremely rich. We visited the Protestant Church, 
remarkable only for its neatness, and for the monu- 
ment to Marechal Saxe, which is a fine composi- 
tion. The warrior is represented in the prime of 
life, descending, with a firm aspect, a flight of steps, 
which terminate in the grave ; the genius of France 
in the attitude of despair is holding him back by the 
skirt of his mantle, while the eagle of Prussia, and 
the Lion and Leopard of Belgium are seen crouch- 
ing to him as he passes. What a noble minded 
man, thought I, must that have been ! what a 
model of courage and virtue ! and how disap- 
pointed was I afterwards on learning that he had 
died a victim to unbounded profligacy. — We left 
Strasbourg at three in the afternoon of the 13th, 
and stopped for the night at Benfeld, a small 
and very neat town. Our host was a large farmer, 
a keen sportsman, and moreover the master of 
the post; the apartments were comfortable and 
the fare good, but the continued baying of dogs, 
screaming of peacocks, gobbling of turkeys, crow- 
ing of cocks, cackling of hens, the arrival and de- 
parture of diligences, caused us to pass an almost 
sleepless night. At a village not far from Basle, we 
had an opportunity of observing the festivities at- 
tendant on a French jour defete. Sterne astonish- 
ed a French count, whom he visited at Fontain- 



30 JOUR DE FETE. 

bleau, by telling him that the French were the gra- 
vest people he had ever met with, but what we saw 
here convinced me that he was right. In a wide 
part of the street was erected a wooden platform, 
raised about two feet from the ground, and near it 
a more elevated stand for the musicians ; about 
fifty couple were upon it, revolving in the giddy 
mazes of a waltz, like so many pirouettes : the com- 
pany consisted entirely of the lower orders, the gens 
du pays, decked out in all their holiday finery ; all 
seemed to enter into the amusement with the great- 
est earnestness ; not a word was exchanged between 
the partners, and all looked as serious as if they 
were dancing at a funeral. In the intervals of rest, 
some of the most gallant exerted themselves to pay 
compliments to their fair companions (if fair they 
may be called, who were as brown as berries and as 
ugly as ) ; but conversation did not seem to con- 
stitute any part of their day's amusement ; however, 
it was delightful to observe in this crowd of persons 
of the lowest class, the strict propriety and deco- 
rum which reigned throughout ; no drunkenness, no 
squabbling nor fighting, but all seemed harmony, and 
every one pleased at once with himself and all the 
world besides. 

We are glad to find ourselves in Switzerland: 
there is a sturdy independant air in the Swiss, that 



BASLE. SI 

puts one much in mind of our own dear country. 
Basle has in its day heen a place of importance ; in 
the year 1431 it was the seat of a council for settling 
the affairs of the church, and being a frontier town, 
it has had to sustain many of the evils of war. Its 
cathedral is a fine, though sombre, Gothic edifice 
of the eleventh century, and amongst other tombs 
contains that of Erasmus. The hall in which the 
council sat is contiguous to the cathedral, and now 
contains some interesting antiquities. — The library 
affords a rich treat to the Bibliomaniac — it contains 
also many of Holbein's paintings and designs, amongst 
others a sketch, by the pen, of Sir Thomas More 
and his family, a very animated composition ; and 
a painting of the Passion of our Lord, a most exqui- 
site picture, and very valuable. There is also 
shown an edition of the Laus Stultitice of Erasmus, 
with marginal etchings by Holbein, which has been 
published. A garden belonging to Mr. Fischer the 
banker, and which he is always obliging enough to 
show, is well worth visiting : situated on an emi- 
nence overhanging the Rhine, it affords most de- 
lightful prospects of the surrounding country, in 
which the river forms always a prominent and most 
interesting object. It was a novelty to us in walk- 
ing about Bale, to see storks parading without mo- 
lestation in the streets ; their nests are generally to 



32 BASLE. 



be seen either on the church towers, or on the gable 
ends of houses, where they look like cradles. This 
bird is protected I believe by law, on the plea of its 
being very destructive to snakes and other reptiles. 



LETTER VI. 

THE JURA HERMITAGE NEAR SOLEURE SOLEURE— 

BERN FRIBOURG. 

Vevey, May 23, 1826. 

Our first day's journey from Bale was interrupt- 
ed at Diestal, after a drive of only four hours, by 
the breaking of one of our springs, which compelled 
us to take up our quarters for the night at a small 
inn, where we tasted the first fruits of Swiss in- 
solence and knavery. Our host seeing we were un- 
der the necessity of staying, made us pay for our 
beds about half as much more as would have been 
demanded of us at any hotel in Paris; and when I 
remonstrated, he coolly replied, that until I paid him 
his bill, he would not suffer my carriage to depart. 
What a difference of scenery between Switzerland 
and Alsace ! It was without any regret that we took 
leave of the dull uninterrupted corn lands of the 
latter, and winded our way among the groves and 
meadows which supply their place in the farmer. 
The beauties of Switzerland, however, did not break 
upon us all at once. On leaving Basle, first, gentr 

c 



34 SWITZERLAND. 

ly sloping hills presented themselves to our notice, 
their sides well clothed with wood, ornamented with 
neat villages and detached country seats, or farm 
houses. Beyond these rise more stately mountains 
covered with noble pine forests ; and, lastly, the 
craggy heights of the Jura, jagged in the most fan- 
tastic manner, fringed with weather-beaten pines, and 
having very much the appearance of the remains of 
some ancient battlements. Our road lay across the 
Hauenstein, a continuation of the Jura ; the ascent 
was very difficult, the road being very much ne- 
glected ; nor was the descent much better. It open- 
ed upon us however a prospect of what may be call- 
ed the garden at once and granary of Switzerland ; 
extending east and south over the Cantons of Ar- 
gau, Lucerne, and Bern, and terminated by the 
snow-clad summits of the mountains of the Ober- 
land. We reached Soleure, or, as it is called, Sol- 
pthurn, the evening of the second day from Bale, 
and took up our quarters at the Couronne, one of 
the best inns on the continent. About two miles 
from the town is a hermitage, which we visited next 
morning before breakfast. The walk leads up a 
narrow dell, through a thick grove, and by the side 
of a purling stream, which we crossed repeatedly by 
means of rustic bridges, according well with the 
noiseless solitude of the scenery. Half an hour's 



HERMITAGE. 35 

walking brought us to the hermit's den ; we tapped 
gently at its door, and at the sound " entrez/' lift- 
ed the latch and found ourselves in the presence 
of the venerable man. He was sitting with a black- 
letter book spread open before him, on a table fur- 
nished with a rude wooden crucifix. The old man, 
whose head was bald, but whose grey beard des- 
cended below his breast, received us with a pious 
welcome ; and then rose to accompany us in visit- 
ing the several grottoes attached to his hermitage. 
These are many, and, at some period, when conceal- 
ment probably was desirable, have been excavated 
with much labour. All of them contain some re- 
presentation of our Lord's trials and sufferings, in 
which the figures are as large as life ; there is one 
grotto in particular, intended to represent the burial 
place of our Lord, which I should certainly say had 
served as a model for the grotto of the Hermit of 
Engaddi, so beautifully described by the talismamic 
pen of the author of Waverly. We were admitted 
into it and allowed to walk round the inner inclo- 
sure, where lies a representation of the dead body of 
our Lord. Had all these painted images been omit- 
ted, and the grottoes left as they were found, we 
should have felt ourselves much better paid for our 
walk ; and we should have come away with a much 
higher respect for the aged hermit,- had we not 

c 2 



36 ARMOURY. 

scented the rich perfumes of his morning draught of 
rum, from time to time ; and had we not had good 
reason to believe that the employment in which we 
found him engaged, was a mere manoeuvre, intend- 
ed to deceive the unwary. 

The Jesuits here have the finest church which 
Switzerland can boast. The architecture is Greci- 
an, and it is approached by u magnificent flight of 
steps, ornamented with two fountains, one on each 
side, at the base. The interior proportions, not 
here (as in most Homan Catholic churches) spoiled 
by an excess of paltry ornaments, are quite on a 
par with the elegance of its exterior. 

The armoury at Soleure is rich in suits of ancient 
armour : there is one room appropriated to an ex- 
hibition of the armour taken from the Burgundians 
at the battle of Morat. Twenty-two of them are 
ranged round a large table, intended to represent the 
twenty-two Swiss Cantons ; but that is neither here 
nor there ; the only thing remarkable about them is 
their immense size, leading one to form extraordin- 
ary notions of the gigantic forms who wore them. 
Should you ever come to this country, do not by 
any means omit to visit this armoury ; and let me 
caution you to beware of the centinel you will find 
within, whose motions are very sudden and alarm- 
ing, but who is, nevertheless, perfectly harmless : 



BERN. 37 

and I would also warn you against a sturdy dwarf 
in armour at one end of a long corridor, who has a, 
most disagreeable trick of spitting. 

Of our journey from Soleure to this place I can 
add but little, as we began to grow weary of con- 
tinued travelling, and thought more of the end of 
our journey than of the scenes we passed through in 
attaining to it. Bern is beautifully situated on an emi- 
nence, and is almost surrounded by the swift flow- 
ing, transparent Aar. The view from the Cathed- 
ral terrace is splendid to a degree, extending over 
the richest country you can imagine, and including 
in its range, the snow-white peaks of the Jungfrau, 
Silverhorn, Schreckhorn, and others of the Bernese 
Oberland. There is a neatness about the town it- 
self, and an air of comfort about the arcades, afford- 
ing shelter to the foot passenger against the scorch- 
ing heat of the Summer, and the inclemencies of the 
Winter season, which are highly attractive. The 
society is said to be the best in Switzerland ; but 
the publicity which vice is allowed to assume, does 
not give one a very exalted opinion of Bernese mo- 
rality. Fribourg is one of the most singular towns 
imaginable; it is literally built upon a rock, and so 
difficult of access, that we all got out of our carriage, 
and it was really frightful to look back at the three 
horses drawing it, which seemed as though they 



38 FRIBOURG. 

would fall every instant. The Jesuits have made 
this their strong hold, and from thence they disse- 
minate their principles with a degree of persever- 
ance and craft which is so peculiar to them. You have 
but to visit the booksellers shops to be aware of 
their restrictions on the liberty of the press ; there 
nothing meets the eye but what those stingy pur- 
veyors of the mind will sanction. We were de- 
lighted beyond measure with the first view of the 
Lake of Geneva ; not less for its real intrinsic beau- 
ty, than for the termination of our journey, which 
it indicated as near at hand. We are here lodged 
at the Three Crowns, and to-morrow we intend 
going in search of a house for the Summer. 



LETTER VII. 

HOUSE-HIRING LA CAMPAGNE — ENGLISH CHURCH. 

Vevey, June 15, 1826. 

After writing my last Letter, our first business 
was to fix upon a suitable residence for the Sum- 
mer months. In doing this, the difficulty consisted 
only in the choice ; for we were amongst the ear- 
liest arrivals, and soon obtained a list of five or six 
country houses for hire. A wager was once laid 
between two Englishmen to this effect : One of the 
parties was exclaiming against the mercenary spirit 
of the Swiss gentry, and in confirmation of this 
fact, added, " I will take upon me to say, that any 

gentleman you will name at — ■ , whatever be 

his fortune or rank in society, will let his house in 
the country to me for any stated period; say six 
months." " I will stake L. 500 on Swiss pride/' 
said his companion. The wager was made, and 
the parties set out together on their expedition to 

decide it. Immediately on arriving at , the 

impugner of Swiss dignity and honour addressed 



40 LA CAMPAGNE 

himself to the person named. " I never have let my 
house," was the reply; " nor have I any intention of 
doing it now :" " but," rejoined the Englishman, 
" I have seen your house, was highly delighted 
with the situation, and I must have it ; therefore 
name your price." This was too much ; pride and 
dignity gave way before the irresistible influence of 
gold, and the honest Swiss replied, " well, if you 
really must have the place, and your heart is set 
upon it, I will no longer resist your importunities ; 
thirty Louis a month, and the house is yours." The 
successful Englishman paid one hundred and eighty 
pounds, the rent for six months, in advance, and 
pocketed the remainder of his easily won gold. 
This anecdote, though affording a tolerably fair pic- 
ture of the high respect for money, which, on a fair 
examination, will be found to predominate in the 
Swiss character, is nevertheless something, but only 
something of a caricature ; as witness almost all 
the best country houses about Geneva and Lau- 
sanne, in the possession of English families ; and 
witness the greater part of those about Vevey also, 
either in the same hands, or else totally unoccupied. 
After looking at a great many Campagnes, as they 
are called, some of which were too large, others too 
far from the Lake, and others again too small, we 
fixed upon the Campagne , about two miles 



LA CAMPAGNE 41 

south of the town; and a very pleasant situation 
it is : we are about a quarter of a mile from the 
Lake, of which we have a charming view from 
our sitting-room windows : a large orchard of a?- 
bout two acres is immediately in front of our house, 
with a walk leading from our front door, which 
divides it in the middle, and conducts, under the 
shade of cherry trees (which are now beginning to be 
productive of something more than shade) to a pretty 
copice, which crowns the brow of a hill overlooking 
the Lake. Here we have a delightful summer-house 
and a terrace, commanding a most extensive pros- 
pect : at our feet, and extending as far west as the 
eye can reach, lays the broad expanse of the " clear 
and placid Leman ;" immediately opposite, rise in 
gloomy majesty, the romantic rocks of Mellierie ; on 
the right, the fertile hills of the Pays de Vaud co- 
vered with vines, and on the left the valley of the 
Rhone, bounded on one side by the lofty peaks of 
the Dent du Midi, whose snowy summit at sun-set 
resembles molten gold, and on the other by the 
rounded heads of the Dent de Morcles ; while the 
centre of the back ground is occupied by a singular 
mountain called le Pain de Sucre, which is shaped 
exactly as its name indicates. 

Soon after we were settled in our rural abode, we 
had great pleasure in learning that the highly respect- 



42 ENGLISH CHURCH. 

able minister of La Tour de Pelz, a village half a mile 
south of Vevey, had kindly offered the use of his 
church every Sunday, and as you will readily believe, 
it was with no less pleasure that I volunteered my as- 
sistance to another clergyman, who had already sig- 
nified his intention of officiating. It is a calumny 
on English travellers, to say, as it is often said by 
narrow-minded people, who would have every body 
stay at home and nourish their home-bred preju- 
dices in ignorance, that when they quit their native 
land, they leave behind them all respect for its reli- 
gious institutions. I can affirm on the contrary, 
and that without fear of contradiction, that where- 
ever opportunities are afforded them of attend- 
ing divine worship in their own inimitable form, 
they take advantage of them with alacrity and 
eagerness, and attend with a regularity and de- 
voutness which perhaps was unknown to them in 
England. Some perhaps will refer me to the thea- 
tres and saloons of Paris, Florence, &c. for a refuta- 
tion of this honourable testimony to the good princi- 
ples of my countrymen; and I cannot deny that 
in these places of fashionable resort, many of both 
sexes will be found, forgetting, in the infatuation of 
the moment, the institutions which they have been 
taught and commanded to respect. But I must 
humbly remark with regard to such people, that in 



ENGLISH CHURCH. 43 

general they will be found to be those who, even in 
their own country, have been remarkable for their 
neglect of all religious duties. Many a one, no 
doubt, who has gone abroad with good intentions, 
has been seduced, by an unpardonable weakness, to 
take part in these amusements which their con- 
sciences pronounce to be criminal, have thus trod- 
den under foot one of the best safeguards of reli- 
gion, and from hence probably have to date a total 
estrangement from its consolatory ordinances. The 
best preventive to the seducing effects of open 
theatres, and open saloons, on the evening of the 
Sabbath, is certainly to be found in the regular per- 
formance of divine worship by English clergymen, 
in all places where there is a sufficient number of 
their countrymen to form a congregation. It is on 
this account I hail with much satisfaction the arri- 
val of a duly consecrated protestant bishop on the 
continent, charged with the important task of super- 
intending the performance of divine worship accord- 
ing to the church of England forms, in all those 
places where it is established, and of promoting it 
in those places where it is wanting. The appoint- 
ment of a bishop has, to my certain knowledge, 
given a stimulus to the religious feelings of our coun- 
trymen, the effects of which are visible from Calais 
to Naples, and even Palermo and Messina ; at which 



44 ENGLISH CHURCH. 

two latter places, chaplains either are or are about 
to be appointed. And not to mention those capitals 
where we have a resident ambassador, at Tours, at 
Pau, at Bagneres and all the considerable outports of 
France, at Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey, Genoa, Leg- 
horn, Pisa, Florence, Vienna and Rome, an English- 
man may now be assured of an opportunity of wor- 
shipping God in the way in which he has been edu- 
cated, and which, after all the unmeaning pomp of 
the Roman Catholic ritual, and the too tame sim- 
plicity of the Calvinistic service, as exhibited in 
Switzerland, he cannot fail to value in a ten fold 
higher degree, than he could do when he knew of 
no other form than his own. I shall offer no apo- 
logy for this long digression, satisfied that you will 
peruse it with interest and pleasure. We are be- 
ginning to plan excursions into the more mountain- 
ous regions of Switzerland, of which you shall have 
a succinct account, when they have been put into 
execution. 



LETTER VIII. 



EXCURSION TO CHAMOUNIX. 



Vevey, July 31, 1826. 

After a long continuation of rain, the weather 
at length cleared up about the fifteenth instant, and 
on the 1 8th, it having assumed a settled appearance, 
we set out on an excursion intended to include in 
its circuit, the salt works at Bex, Martigny, and the 
valley of Chamounix. After leaving behind us the 
villages of Clarens and Montrieux, so well known to 
all the readers of Rousseau's Eloise, (to which class 
however I have not the honour of belonging) we paid 
a passing visit to the Gastle of Chillon. It is built 
upon a peninsular rock : it was originally a resi- 
dence of the Dukes of Savoy, then, after the con- 
quest of this country by the Bernese, the residence 
of the bailiff appointed by that canton, and now it 
is a species of arsenal where the few artillery stores 
belonging to this district are preserved. It has al- 
ways served, when occasion required, as a state pri- 



46 CASTLE OF CHILLON. 

son; and in its soulerrain, was confined, during 
five years, the intrepid Bonivar, bishop of Geneva. 
To this latter circumstance, and to the beautiful 
poem which Byron composed on the subject, it owes 
much of its present notoriety ; though it must be 
confessed the noble author has borrowed very plen- 
tifully from the sources of fiction, and has mixed up 
with the story of Bonivar much that does not in any 
way relate to him. His Lordship's name is written 
on one of the 

" Seven columns, massy and gray," 

report says, by himself, and is duly pointed out to all 
English visitors; and the Vaudois are certainly bound 
to entertain a grateful remembrance of the illustrious 
bard, if not to go farther, and erect a monument to 
his memory; for not one of his countrymen passes by 
the prison of Chillon, without paying it a visit, and 
of course, he is not conducted over it without fee or 
reward, and I should have no hesitation in affirming, 
that during the summer months little less than 100 
francs is collected from them weekly ; no inconsi- 
derable item, let me observe, in the revenue of the 
canton. After passing Villeneuve, we entered the 
valley of the Rhone, which is here not less than six 
or eight miles in width ; being exceedingly flat and 



TOWER OF ST. TRYPHON. 47 

standing very little higher than the level of the Lake, 
it is frequently inundated and breeds noxious va- 
pours, whose prejudicial effects are too plainly de- 
picted in the sallow and swollen features of the 
lower order of inhabitants. Beyond Aigle, how- 
ever, the scene changes much for the better : the 
country, (raised out of the reach of inundations, co- 
vered with luxuriant crops now nearly ripe for the 
sickle, and verdant meadows) by its smiling aspect, 
soon dispelled the gloom created in our minds by 
the disease-breeding tract we had just traversed ; 
for, wherever these stagnant vapours prevail, they 
produce a painful sensation of drowsiness and lassi- 
tude in those who are unaccustomed to their influ- 
ence. Shortly before reaching Bex, we observed 
on our right, the tower of St. Tryphon, and the 
singular island, it may almost be called, on which it 
stands. This is an isolated rock in the very centre 
of the valley, whose surface may be about fifty or 
sixty acres. On every side but one it presents a 
perpendicular wall of rock varying from eighty to a 
hundred and twenty feet in height : on the south 
side of it, where alone it is accessible, there stands 
a small hamlet, and at its north west angle, the 
tower of St. Tryphon commanding a very extensive 
prospect over the Lake and towards the upper part 
of the valley. The situation and form of this sin- 



48 SALT WORKS. 

gular rock confirm the opinion entertained by M. 
cle Saussure, that the lake of Geneva once extended 
much farther south than its present limits ; and 
there is every appearance of this having been at 
some remote period an island, and its sides subjected 
to the action of running water. We soon entered 
the pretty village of Bex, with its neat baths and 
boarding houses erected for the reception of those 
who go to take the advantage of its sulphureous wa- 
ters, which are strongly recommended to persons 
afflicted with disorders of the skin. We lost no 
time in hiring a carriage to convey us to the salt 
works which are situated in the mountains, and dis- 
tant from Bex about a league and a half. The road 
winds along by the side of an impetuous torrent, 
forming in its progress many pretty falls, while every 
turn introduced some new beauty to our notice : 
after continually ascending for about an hour we 
came to the foot of the mountain, out of whose 
bosom the salt is extracted. Having procured a 
guide and some torches we entered the gallery, 
which penetrating the mountain, proceeds in a hori- 
zontal direction 4000 feet : it is cut in the solid 
rock, and is six feet and a half high by three feet 
and a half wide. After advancing about a hundred 
yards we began to feel some inconvenience from the 
cold and damp air of the gallery, having just left 



SALT WORKS* 49 

an atmosphere of near eighty degrees of Fahrenheit, 
and did not think it either prudent or worth while 
to proceed beyond the largest chamber and the well. 
The former is one hundred feet long, sixty wide, 
and nine high, hollowed out of the solid rock. The 
well, also cut in the solid rock, is eight hundred 
feet deep; and we amused ourselves, for a short 
time, by rolling large sheets of paper into the shape 
of a cone, and, after setting fire to them, watching 
their descent, which occupied some minutes. At a 
depth of 400 feet, the well communicates with other 
galleries ; to which indeed it affords the only access : 
we did not descend to them, but we were informed 
by the workmen that foul air did not exist in any 
part of the mine; and indeed the miners had all the 
appearance of the most vigorous health. On leav- 
ing the mine, we proceeded to the houses where the 
operation of extracting the salt from the water, con- 
ducted hither from the very centre of the mountain 
by means of pipes, is carried on ; and if the immense 
galleries, spacious chambers, and deep well, which 
we had just left, impressed us with a deep sense of 
the perseverance and industry of the hardy moun- 
taineers, we were here no less convinced of their in- 
genuity. With regard to such of the water as is very 
strongly impregnated with salt, the process is very 
simple : it is boiled, for some time, in immense cal- 

D 



50 SALT WORKS. 

drons, and then run off into spacious coolers, where 
the salt soon forms in crystals on the sides and bot- 
tom. But there is much of the water, which con- 
tains so little salt, that it is scarcely perceptible to 
the taste. The operation of boiling this would be 
endless, and, more than that, attended with enor- 
mous expense. In order, therefore, to get rid of 
the soft water, as they call it, and, at the same time, 
to retain the salt, the following simple yet ingenious 
process is adopted : — Vast sheds are constructed, 
about three hundred feet long, fifty wide, and one 
hundred high ; they are open at the sides, and are 
erected in situations most exposed to the action of 
the sun and wind. The space in the centre is filled 
with faggots of fir-tree branches and thorns : the 
water is raised, by means of most ingenious pumps 
(some twenty or thirty of which are kept in perpe- 
tual exercise by the agency of four cubic inches of 
water falling on a wheel 34 feet in diameter), to 
the top of the building, and is there distributed with 
beautiful regularity over the whole surface of the 
faggots : through these, which, be it recollected, 
constitute a mass ninety feet high and twenty wide, 
the water filters, drop by drop, into a basin beneath. 
In its progress, the earthy particles it contains re- 
main attached to the faggots in the form of stalac- 
tite, the soft water evaporates, and what reaches the 



ST. MAURICE. 51 

basin is as strongly impregnated with salt as the 
most productive which the mountain affords ; it is 
thence conducted by pipes to the boilers, and is 
treated as the first. This operation is simple, but 
the effect is wonderful; the reservoirs for the recep- 
tion of the water from the mountain, and for that 
which has undergone the process of evaporation, are 
close together ; and the two are as different in taste 
as river and sea water. The quantity of salt pro- 
duced from these works annually is a million and a 
half of pounds. On returning to Bex, at one o'clock, 
we partook of a table d'hote dinner, and resumed our 
journey to Martigny, which we reached at an early 
hour in the evening. The Pass of St. Maurice, 
about a league beyond Bex, is an interesting point; 
the two opposite mountains, named the Dent de 
Midi and the Dent de Morcles, approach so near to 
each other at their bases, that there is barely room 
between them for the passage of the river and the 
road, A bridge, of one bold arch, connects the one 
mountain with the other, and there is only just 
space for the wheeling of a carriage at each extrem- 
ity. This constitutes the division between the Can- 
tons of Vaud and Vallais : each night the gate on 
the eastern side of the river is closed^ and thus cuts 
off all communication between the two, except by 

d 2 



52 THE VALLAISANS. 

means of a silver pass-key, which all travellers are 
presumed to carry in their pockets. Nature has 
certainly pointed out this spot as an appropriate 
limit to the two Cantons, which were once two 
separate countries : but religion, or rather, the 
abuse of it, has constituted a much broader divi- 
sion, which is discernible in the features, manners, 
and dress of the Vallaisans. Than the Vaudois, 
there is hardly any where to be found a better dress- 
ed or a healthier peasantry. Cross the bridge of 
St. Maurice, and, in the short space of five minutes, 
you find yourself surrounded by the most filthy race 
of beings you can imagine ; tattered garments and 
squallid countenances indicate the prevalence of po- 
verty and its concomitant, disease ; hosts of beggars 
flock round you and solicit alms with an earnestness, 
which nothing but actual starvation could give rise 
to ; you are lost in astonishment at the sudden 
change. The explanation, however, is not far to 
seek ; it is given in one word : the Vallaisans are 
Roman Catholics : not of the present day ; for igno- 
rance is now beginning to be considered as no longer 
an essential accomplishment of a good Catholic: 
but they are the Roman Catholics of the fifteenth 
century; sunk in the lowest depths of ignorance 
and superstition, and in a state of degradation, 



P1SSEVACHE. 53 

which it is impossible to contemplate without being 
touched with feelings of the tenderest pity for the 
unhappy beings themselves; and without being 
astonished, that a system should be permitted to 
continue, which manifestly produces so much hu- 
man misery. Of this, the farther we advanced 
in the Canton dii Vallais, the more we saw : each 
village we approached poured forth its swarm of 
beggars, wearing the appearance of the most ab- 
ject distress : the lamentable effects of disease, 
more the result of filth than of climate, met our 
eyes in every direction ; not confined to the bodies 
of its victims, but exhibiting itself in all the dif- 
ferent gradations of idiotcy. But enough of this 
heart-rending picture, — I must hasten to conduct 
you to the termination of our first day's journey. 
After leaving St. Maurice about eight miles behind 
us, we were introduced on a sudden turn of the road, 
as it issues from the little village of Miville, to a 
magnificent water-fall, known by the name of the 
Pissevache. Its perpendicular height is estimated at 
three hundred feet; but long before reaching the 
edge of the precipice, it is seen rushing downwards 
from the heights above with a stupendous impetu- 
osity, so that when it makes its last bound, it seems 
as though it would crush the earth on which it is to 



54 PISSEVACHE. 

fall. The noise is tremendous ; crash follows crash 
in quick succession, each bringing with it a violent 
gust of wind, which conveys the agitated spray to a 
great distance. There are few things in the natu- 
ral world more imposing than a fine waterfall : the 
thundering noise, the agitation of the atmosphere, 
the whiteness and delicacy of the foam, the irresisti- 
ble rapidity of the water, and the perpetuity of all 
these, take complete hold on the imagination. We 
stood near the base of the fall for three quarters of 
an hour lost in admiration, and but for the approach 
of evening we could have contemplated this play- 
thing of nature, for some time longer, with undimi- 
nished satisfaction. Proceeding a little farther, we 
observed on our right, a narrow and tortuous chasm, 
cleaving the mountain from top to bottom, and serv- 
ing as a channel for the waters of a torrent named 
the Trient. This chasm appears to have been the 
work of an earthquake, so narrow is it, not exceed- 
ing from fifteen to twenty feet ; while the faces of 
the rock on each side have all the marks of a sudden 
and violent separation. Endeavouring to penetrate 
into the mouth of the chasm, two of our party lost 
their hats, one was recovered after some difficulty, 
but the other sailed away in triumph to join the 
waters of the Rhone, and its owner was obliged to 



MARTIGNY. 55 

proceed onwards to Martigny hatless. We reached 
that place at seven, and after securing mules and 
guides for the continuance of our route next day, 
betook ourselves, to our separate chambers, I can- 
not say, to rest, for the gnats and bugs put that 
quite out of the question. 



LETTER IX. 

CONTINUATION OF AN EXCURSION TO CHAMOUNI. 

At half-past seven in the morning of the nineteenth, 
we set out towards Chamouni with three mules and 
two guides, myself being the only pedestrian of the 
party, the guides alone excepted. Immediately on 
leaving Martigny, the ascent to the Forclas (a Pass 
so called) begins, and continues without interrup- 
tion for two leagues, always steep, but at times pain- 
fully so. For the first hour the shade of chesnut- 
trees renders the walk very agreeable, but after 
that the road is exposed entirely to the morning sun, 
which, in so narrow a valley, scorched us extremely. 
We had distinct and extensive views of the upper 
Vallais ; but it is so wretched in appearance, being 
always more or less inundated by the unconfined 
waters of the Rhone, that we were not often tempt- 
ed to turn round and dwell upon them. The wor- 
tleberries and strawberries which grew abundantly 
by the side of the path, served in some measure to 



PASS OF THE FORCLAS. 57 

slake our thirst ; for we were not yet sufficiently 
initiated in the mysteries of mountain-climbing, to 
be aware that the coldest water (of which there is 
always abundance), can be safely drank, provided the 
pedestrian immediately continues his route. But, 
perhaps, as few have the constitution of a hardy 
mountaineer, it is safest to mix with it a small quan- 
tity of spirits. On approaching the Pass of Forclas, 
which was to admit us to the valley of Trient, we 
observed some larch trees of a prodigious size, and, 
to judge from their appearance, of great age. They 
are not so regular in their growth as they common- 
ly are in England, resembling more the irregularity 
of the oak, than the tapering symmetry of the fir- 
tribe. They are called in the patois of the coun- 
try, larz. On gaining the height of Forclas, the 
first object which attracted our attention was the 
glacier of Trient : it is one of the most extensive 
in Switzerland ; and we were very forcibly struck 
with the magnificence of its aspect, under a cloud- 
less sun. After regarding it for some time with in- 
creasing interest, we were compelled to turn our 
steps downwards to the valley of Trient, which lay at 
our feet, and which contained the hamlet, where we 
were to expect refreshments. The descent was soon 
accomplished, and the contents of the cabin far ex- 
ceeded what we were led to expect from its external 



58 FOREST OF MAGNAN. 

appearance. We had coffee, eggs, bread, butter, 
honey, strawberries, and most delicious cream ; and 
after laying in a good store of such good things, and 
waiting till our mules had finished their repast, we 
began the ascent of the Col de Balme through the 
forest of Magnan. This is attended with much 
difficulty : the path is so steep, that if it were not 
for the roots of the pines, the soil would inevitably 
give way, and the ascent become impracticable. 
It was really surprising to observe the caution and 
adroitness of the mules, in ascending steeps that 
even a pedestrian does not find too easy: on ap- 
proaching difficult passages, they stop short, and 
regard fixedly for a brief space, the difficulties they 
have to encounter ; and when they appear to have 
made themselves perfectly acquainted with them, 
they move forward and do not again halt until they 
have reached a position of comparative safety. On 
these occasions it is necessary to give them their 
heads, and not to hurry them in the least, and then 
they seldom or ever make a false step. A guide who 
had followed his profession for thirty years, assured 
me he had never known a mule fall but once, and that 
was on level ground, and in the high road. After pro- 
ceeding in a zig-zag direction through this forest for 
some time, containing the largest pines and larch trees 
I ever saw; while underneath, the ground was com- 



FOREST OF MAGNAN. 59 

pletely covered with the rododendron in full bloom, 
we found ourselves on the Col de Balme, a mountain 
without a tree, but covered with a beautiful green 
turf, forming an admirable pasture for the cows which 
are kept here, during the summer months in great 
numbers. — The countless pines and larch trees under 
whose shade we had been slowly advancing for more 
than two hours, are productive of but little profit to 
their owners : so little indeed, in consequence of the 
inaccessibility of their situation, that a proprietor of 
one of these large forests, on being asked once on the 
part of the British Government, at what price he 
would furnish timber for the bowsprits of a first rate, 
replied, that they might go into his forest, choose 
for themselves, and cut down as many as they pleased, 
at the rate of five batzen (about 7|d.) per tree : well 
aware that not one of them could be moved beyond 
the precincts of the valley in which it had grown. 
A few are annually felled for cutting up into planks, 
and supplying fuel for the neighbouring villages; 
and now and then a still, for extracting spirits of 
turpentine from their juice, may be observed at 
work; its situation being distinguished by a thin 
spiral column of smoke, as it is seen slowly curling 
upwards from the dense mass of trees ; the rest are 
left to time and the elements for destruction. Hence 
you see some lying prostrate almost decayed to pow- 



60 COL DE BALME- 

der, and being converted again into soil ; others still 
retaining their upright posture, but stripped of their 
bark, and stretching their blanched and giant limbs 
to the tempests— the dead among the living : alto- 
gether they constitute a wild but interesting scene. 
Before reaching the summit of the mountain, we 
stopped at a cow-herd's cabin, and drank each a 
bowl of most excellent cream, which we convert- 
ed into syllabub, by pouring into it a small quan- 
tity of brandy: for though cold water may be 
perfectly safe in its pure and unadulterated state, 
the same cannot be said of cream. — On reach- 
ing the cross which stands at the highest point of 
the Pass, the prospect which burst upon us was 
truly magnificent : thence we saw, glaciers, moun- 
tains covered with eternal snow, aiguilles, as they 
are called, with their bare and pointed peaks pierc- 
ing the clouds, and with their almost perpendicu- 
lar sides defying the efforts of man to scale them. 
But the great sire of mountains, Mount Blanc, with 
his mantle of snow was absent : an envious cloud 
encircled his hoary head and effectually concealed 
him from our view. Taken all in all this is perhaps 
one of the finest mountain views in Switzerland, 
yet there is something wanting : it is nature in its 
grandest form ; but it is inanimate nature ; not a 
living thing, not a human habitation is visible, with 



CHAMOUNI. 61 

the exception of the distant village of Chamouni, 
which is barely distinguishable: it might be the 
earth, at that period of its creation, when God com- 
manded the " waters under heaven to be gathered 
unto one place and the dry land to appear :" such 
and so magnificently confused a scene do the moun- 
tains on mountains, and rocks on rocks present as 
seen from this spot, elevated as it is 7000 feet above 
the level of the sea. — During the preceding part of 
the day, we had been suffering a good deal from 
heat; but here we found ourselves exposed to so 
cold and chilling a wind, that we were compelled to 
quit the contemplation of so much grandeur, and to 
proceed onwards that we might reach Chamouni 
before night-fall : which we did, after passing close 
to the glaciers of Tour, Argentine, and Bois, about 
half past six o'clock, somewhat fatigued with our 
journey, though much delighted with the occurrences 
of the day. The distance is called nine leagues, 
and we were just nine hours en rout } not including 
two hours rest at Trient. 



CONTINUATION OF AN EXCURSION TO CHAMOUNI. 

July 20. 

At eight o'clock, we sallied forth to ascend 
Mount Anvert, and from thence to visit the Mere 
de Glace. The face of the mountain towards Cha- 
monni is so abrupt that it was only by continual- 
ly describing the letter z that we reached its summit, 
two thousand five hundred feet, or nearly half a mile 
in perpendicular height above the level of the valley. 
Guided in our expectations, by the glowing descrip- 
tions of the Mere de Glace which we had read, no 
less than by our own fertile imagination, no wonder 
the first glimpse we obtained of it, on rounding the 
summit of Mount Anvert, dissappointed us. The 
crystal-like transparency which naturally attaches 
to the idea of ice, was wanting: the surface re- 
sembling more the appearance of snow, after it 
has long been under the influence of a thaw, and 
being of a dirty white colour. Our disappointment, 
however, was soon absorbed in wonder and admira- 
tion when we found ourselves upon it ; for until 
then we had formed no adequate notion of its ex- 
tent. You must often have observed the agitation 



MERE DE GLACE. 63 

of the sea during a storm, where it breaks upon a 
rocky shore : the receding and advancing waves 
meeting in hostile array, and, being nearly equal in 
magnitude, neither gives way to the other ; but each 
endeavouring, as it were, to be uppermost, they rise 
and rise, until their accumulated mass, becoming too 
heavy to be longer sustained in air, they fall toge- 
ther, and appear to continue the struggle for ascend- 
ancy, until they are both of them merged in another 
coming wave. Suppose this troubled mass in a mo- 
ment converted into ice, and you have an exact re- 
semblance of the Mere de Glace. Frightful chasms 
present themselves in every direction ; their edges 
rounded and smooth as glass, they look like pitfalls 
for the unwary : and woe be to him who allured by 
the rich azure . colour of their inner recesses, ap- 
proaches too near to gratify his curiosity — such is 
their depth, that of the many, who from time to 
time have fallen into them, I never yet heard of one 
who had been rescued alive. There was something so 
novel in the scene which surrounded us ; something 
so unlike the usual processes of nature, for though 
we stood upon a mass of ice, not less than three hun- 
dred feet thick, three miles in width, and extending 
many leagues in length, yet within a hundred yards 
of us all the vegetable kingdom seemed to be in 
its glory ; something so marvellous in such a vast ac- 



64 GLACIER BES BOSSONS. 

cumulation of ice under the powerful influence of a 
cloudless sun, that the first feeling it gave rise to in 
our breasts was that of wonder and astonishment. 
But on coming to contemplate the vast utility of 
these phenomena of nature, that they constitute the 
inexhaustible store houses, whence all the great rivers 
of continental Europe are supplied with an unspar- 
ing hand during the droughts of summer, it was im- 
possible not to exclaim inwardly with the Psalmist, 
" How marvellous are thy works, O God ! in wis- 
dom hast thou made them all." — We left this inter- 
esting scene with reluctance, and after partaking 
of some refreshment, in a neat cottage which has 
been erected on Mont Anvert for that purpose, we 
again descended to Chamouni, and after giving our- 
selves and our mules half an hour's rest, we set out 
to visit the pyramids of ice, which stand nearly at 
the base of the Glacier des Bossons. The approach to 
them is through a wood of alder trees, between whose 
branches we got occasional glimpses of the pyra- 
mids, rising far above the highest of them : after 
getting clear of the trees, we had to cross a vast 
mound of stones and mud, accumulated by the 
downward progress of the glacier, and then found 
ourselves within thirty yards of the pyramids, 
quite as near as it was prudent to go, as por- 
tions of them were continually becoming detached, 



PYRAMIDS. 65 

and falling about their bases. We here had a full 
view of them, as they rose in towering majesty 
above our heads : they are of a clear azure colour, 
and towards their summits beautifully transparent : 
from the constant action of the sun upon them, 
their surface, is perfectly smooth and glassy, and of 
a dazzling brightness ; and I can only compare them 
to so many gigantic crystals : they vary in height 
from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet. A similar 
phenomenon does not I believe exist in any other of 
the numerous glaciers of Switzerland, and as the most 
experienced philosophers have failed in finding an 
adequate cause for their formation, I shall not expose 
myself to your censure in endeavouring to account 
for them by any "speculations of my own. Placed 
at the foot of this glacier, which extends down- 
wards from Mount Blanc itself, they seem to consti- 
tute a sort of barrier to its farther progress, and to 
prevent its rushing with destructive impetuosity in- 
to the peaceful valley beneath. — The evening was 
beautifully fine, and after dinner we went and 
posted ourselves near the church of Chamouni to 
watch the effect of the setting sun on Mount Blanc : 
as it approached the horizon, the brilliant whiteness 
of the snow assumed gradually a richer and richer 
colouring, until at length it became one mass of 
deep pink, exquisitely shaded towards its lower ex- 



66 SUN-SET. 

tremity. This retained undiminished splendour for 
at least a quarter of an hour ; then, as the sun gra- 
dually sank below the horizon the richness of co- 
louring insensibly decreased, and at length termi- 
nated in a dead whiteness, which it was quite chill- 
ing to behold : I could not help comparing these 
successive changes, to the hectic flush, which marks 
the victims of mortal disease ; the gradual diminu- 
tion of this unearthly brilliancy by the rapid pro- 
gress of the disorder, and the chilly paleness of 
death. It was now dark where we stood, but Mount 
Blanc still received on its lofty head, the influence 
of the bright luminary, long after it had sunk be- 
low the horizon. 



LETTER X. 



RETURN FROM CHAMOUNI. 



Vevey, July, 1826. 

We turned our backs on Chamouni at a quarter 
past 7 o'clock, on the twenty first, having previous- 
ly taken a " long last look" of the Sire of mountains, 
whose showy mantle shone as bright as an uncloud- 
ed sun could make it. After proceediug about an 
hour and a half along the road by which we had first 
entered this most interesting valley, we turned to 
the left, and soon found ourselves in the Val-orsine, 
which conducts to the Pass of the Tete Noire. At 
its entrance this valley is by no means prepossess- 
ing, and affords a melancholy contrast to the smil- 
ing and majestic scenery we had just left. It is 
narrow, and presents nothing on either side but 
bare and barren rocks, with scarcely herbage enough 
to sustain the few half starved goats and cows, we saw 
straggling about, wherever they could obtain a foot- 
ing. The village of Valorsine, which we traversed, 
extends nearly a league in length, and though com* 

e 2 



68 VALORSINE. 

posed only of wooden cottages, or block houses, as 
they would be called in America, it is not with- 
out some interest, situated, as it is, in the midst of 
a region of so sterile and inhospitable an aspect. 
No sooner however had we cleared the village, 
than by a gentle turn of the valley towards the 
south, we were introduced to a change of scene, as 
beautiful, as it was unexpected. On crossing the 
rivulet, (the Trient), we entered a grove of pines, and 
continued skirting its right bank under the agreeable 
shade they afforded. Frequent openings between the 
trees, disclosed to us the opposite side of the valley, 
beautifully wooded as that on which we were : and at 
one of these openings we caught a view of a fine cas- 
cade, called la barberine, falling from a great height, 
and losing itself in a grove of fir trees. Nothing but , 
want of time deterred us from paying it a visit. As 
we penetrated farther into the valley, the scenery be- 
came more and more imposing. In some places it is 
little more than a stone's cast wide; the mountains on 
each side seem as if they had been agitated by some 
violent convulsion of nature ; enormous masses of 
rock lay piled one above the other in most frightful 
confusion ; threatening in all appearance to leave 
their resting-places and plunge into the abyss be- 
neath, bearing havoc and destruction in their course : 
yet so they have seemed for centuries, as the im- 



LADY G D*S ROCK. 69 

mense pines growing from between them abundant- 
ly testify. There is one mass of rock in particular 
which actually overhangs the road, and occasion- 
ally serves as a resting-place for such travellers as 
are bold enough to seek for repose under what may 
crush them to atoms in a moment ; for it rests, ap- 
parently at least, only on one angle. An English 
Countess was so taken with it, that she ferreted out 
the owner of the district, purchased this isolated 
rock, and has placed on it an inscription, proclaim- 
ing her right to it, and speaking of the pleasure she 
had derived during a sojourn of some days in its ro- 
mantic vicinity. It must have been a high treat to 
have been present at the bargain ; how the asto- 
nished mountaineer's eye-brows must have been ele- 
vated when it was proposed to him to sell some odd 
thousand tons of rock, which he knew it was im- 
possible to remove ! As we proceeded onwards, the 
wildness of the scenery increased; at times we 
wound our way under impending rocks, where the 
rays of the sun had never penetrated ; the next mi- 
nute found us in some open sunny glade, the ground 
literally carpeted with strawberry beds, producing 
an abundance of richly-flavoured fruit, such as I 
never saw or tasted in the most highly-cultivated 
garden. At times we could see the foaming torrent 
so immediately beneath us, that a single false step 



70 PASSAGE OF THE TETE NOIRE. 

would have precipitated us into its rocky bed, from 
a height of six or seven hundred feet : at times we 
could only discern its situation by the loud roaring 
of its agitated waters, as they went plunging along 
over opposing rocks, which, instead of retarding 
their progress, only Increased their impetuosity. But 
I feel the absurdity of endeavouring to give you even 
a faint description of this mountain pass : it contains 
all that is beautiful, all that is grand, and all that is 
terrible in nature : and as an Italian traveller has 
expressed himself, there can be " niente di piu mae- 
stoso, niente di piu imponente, niente di piu senti- 
mentale, che il Passeggio detto del Tete Noire." We 
reached the village of Trient at one o'clock, Mar- 
tigny at half-past four, Bex at eight in the evening, 
and our maison de campaign, near Vevey, at one 
o'clock on the following day ; having employed five 
days on this most delightful excursion. 

I will conclude my letter with a few observations 
relative to the system now in force for providing 
travellers with mules and guides. To prevent imposi- 
tion, the Swiss and Piedmontese governments have 
taken the management of these matters entirely out 
of the hands of individuals, and have enacted laws for 
their regulations, which, in the long run, no doubt, 
are advantageous to the traveller. The prices are fixed, 
being for a mule six francs a-day, and the same for 



GUIDES AND MULES. 71 

a guide. The mules being still the property of indivi- 
duals, pass under the review of an officer, styled chef 
guide" at stated periods, when such as are past work, 
or are considered on any account unqualified for 
their labour, are struck off the list. The guides are 
regularly enrolled, and are generally men of unim- 
peachable character ; many of them possessing, at 
the same time, a vast deal of information and intelli- 
gence, which is highly useful to those who are un- 
acquainted with the various phenomena that are con- 
tinually occurring in mountainous countries. Pub- 
lic good however is often attended with partial evil; 
one of the regulations adopted by both governments 
is, that the mules or guides of the one country, shall 
not be employed in the other : that is to say, mules 
and guides, hired at Martigny, cannot be made use 
of in visiting the interesting points about Chamou- 
ni ; and vice versa. By this we were sufferers. 
When we addressed ourselves to the chief guide at 
Martigny, for mules and guides to Chamouni, he in- 
quired when we proposed returning. I answered, 
that it was our intention to remain one day there, and 
return on the day following. " Then," said he, " you 
must pay for three days." This appeared to me ex- 
tremely reasonable, and I therefore made no objection. 
But when we reached Chamouni, we found that our 
Martigny mules and guides were there of no use to 



72 MOUNTAIN GUIDES. 

us whatever; and were under the necessity of procur- 
ing a fresh set ; though we were all the time paying 
for those which had conducted us thither, and which 
were remaining all the day idle. The number of 
guides at Chamouni is about forty : each goes out in 
his turn ; and as some are more sought after than 
others, in consequence of their greater experience or 
superior knowledge, if the traveller wishes to have 
the privilege of choosing, he must pay an additional 
fee of three francs a-day, which is placed in a fund, 
for the benefit of them all. Nothing could exceed 
the civility and attention we received from our 
guides on all occasions ; and this is the character 
they generally bear. 



LETTER XL 

EXCURSION TO THE BERNESE OBERLAND. 

Vevey, Sept. 1826. 

The heat which prevailed during the month of 
August, accompanied as it was by frequent thunder 
storms, and a generally unsettled state of weather, 
made us glad to remain at home, and defer our 
meditated expedition to the Bernese Oberland till 
the more settled autumnal season should set in. 
This appearing to be the case early in the present 
month, we resumed our mountain poles, and, on the 
morning of the eleventh, commenced our march 
under the best possible auspices. After crossing 
the ridge of mountains, which serve as a skreen to 
the lake at its eastern extremity, and rise from three 
to five thousand feet above the level of its surface, 
we descended into a secluded valley on the other 
side, watered by the Sarine, a noisy torrent, which 
falls into the Aar below Berne. The meadows, as 
we neared the valley, with an unrivalled richness of 
verdure, and only interrupted by dark-coloured 



74 VALLEY OF THE SARINE. 

groves of the sombre pine, contrasted very agreea- 
bly with the bare and sterile rocks we had just left. 
It was the season of the second hay harvest, the 
fields were peopled with mowers and hay-makers, 
and the scene was one of singular gaiety and ani- 
mation. So populous is this little fertile vale, that 
the villages run almost one into another ; the houses 
are all of wood, and very picturesque in form. The 
inhabitants are an industrious race, habituated, from 
their earliest childhood, to useful labour. In order 
to encourage early habits of industry, or perhaps in 
obedience to long established custom, the village 
schools are abandoned during the summer months ; 
when the school-master and his scholars are consi- 
dered to be more usefully employed in the labours 
of husbandry. The men and boys are chiefly em- 
ployed, during summer, in the high mountains, tend- 
ing the cows, and performing all the operations of 
the dairy : some portion of them occasionally de- 
scending into the valley, when the women require 
their assistance in the hay or corn harvest. During 
the winter, their chief occupation is still with the 
cattle, which are then housed, and in bringing down 
hay and fuel from the mountains, which they do by 
means of sledges. Towards the latter end of May, 
the cattle are conducted to the mountain pastures 
with much ceremony, forming, sometimes, proces- 



PASTORAL PROCESSIONS. 75 

sions extending nearly a mile in length. The bull 
leads the way, with an enormous bell suspended 
from his neck, by means of a leathern belt, about 
twelve inches broad, and richly ornamented. The 
largest and handsomest cows of the herd then fol- 
low by pairs, distinguished from the rest by the size 
of their bells and the decoration of the belts which 
support them. Behind these comes a succession of 
waggons, containing dairy utensils, furnaces and 
coppers for making cheese, beds, chairs and tables, 
and some supply of provisions ; then follows the rest 
of the herd, amounting, perhaps, to a hundred or 
more head of cattle. Each animal is furnished with 
a bell, so you may imagine what a din they keep 
up. What with the lowing of the cattle, the ding- 
ling of bells, men shouting, and dogs barking, I 
think I never heard more inharmonious sounds ; and 
yet there was much that was cheerful and exhilar- 
ating in the scene. Of these processions, we saw 
many on our journey towards Vevey in the month 
of May. When the cattle are first turned out, the 
lower mountain pastures are alone fit for their re- 
ception, the upper ones being still partially covered 
with snow : but they advance upwards as the warmth 
increases and the snow recedes ; until, during the 
months, July, August, and September, their range 
extends over the summits of the high mountains: 



76 VALLEY OF THE SARINE. 

and from these they are only driven by the rain and 
cold of autumn. Again their retreat is gradual, and, 
eating their way downwards, they leave little behind 
them for winter to destroy ; and, on finally descend- 
ing into the warm and sheltered valleys, they find 
ready for them, as a sort of ban bouche, sl fine growth 
of after-grass, which sends them fat into their win- 
ter stalls. In our progress up the valley, we passed 
through the large and populous villages of Chateau 
d'GEx and Rougemont. The latter contains a build- 
ing, near the church, of great extent and antiquity: 
it was formerly a convent, and the very one, I have 
every reason to believe, in which was established the 
first printing press in Switzerland. Singular, that 
from so secluded a valley should have issued the 
means of spreading knowledge and civilization among 
people, who probably never heard that such a place 
existed ! " Grand Seigneurs" in this tranquil valley 
there are none : he is the richest man who makes 
most cheeses ; while the person, in each village, of 
the greatest influence is the clergyman ; whose la- 
bour, if he do his duty, must equal that of the mean- 
est of his flock ; for the parishes are very extensive, 
and proportionally populous. The churches are 
large and clean, and the internal arrangements ex- 
ceedingly simple. The houses of the farmers and 
their labourers are alike built of wood, and differ 



VALLEY OF THE SAR1NE. 77 

only in size and external decoration, the form being 
universally the same. The gable end is always the 
principal front, and is generally provided with a 
balcony, over which the roof projects eight or ten 
feet, serving as well to break the force of the sum- 
mer's sun and winter's storm. The wood work is 
sometimes richly carved, or painted with some quaint 
device ; while each house is furnished with a quota- 
tion from scripture, generally importing the owner's 
trust in a superintending Providence. We reached 
Gessenai about seven o'clock, and were waited on 
at supper by a poor Englishwoman, who had mar- 
ried a Swiss peasant, formerly in our artillery ser- 
vice ; but who, on the return of peace, sought again 
his native valley, (having been long enough absent 
from it to acquire a distaste for its peaceful occupa- 
tions ;) with a wife unacquainted with the manners 
and habits of the people among whom she was to 
live, and burdened with a numerous family : I need 
not tell you that poverty and wretchedness is now 
their lot : the woman received, with unfeigned gra- 
titude, a small present we made up amongst us ; and 
were this valley much frequented by our wandering 
countrymen, she would soon no doubt be placed 
out of the reach of want by their charitable dona- 
tions. We left Gessenai early the ensuing morning 
in a waggon furnished with two swing seats, and 



78 THE SIMMENTHAL. 

drawn by one horse. After crossing a high alp, as 
it is called, or ridge of mountain pastures, which di- 
vides the valley of the Sarine from that of the Sim- 
men, we reached a considerable village named Zwei- 
simmen, because two (in German, Zwei) branches 
of that river meet here. This is the beginning of 
tbe Simmenthal, or valley of the Simmen, which, 
at each step, becomes more and more beautifully 
picturesque. From hence to Wimmis, a distance of 
six leagues, it is a continuation apparently of one 
village ; so thickly is the smiling valley planted with 
cottages. It is extremely narrow in some places, 
and the great difficulty of gaining space for a road 
between the mountain and the torrent, enhances 
much the merit of the engineer, who has succeeded 
in constructing a most admirable one along places, 
that some years ago would have been pronounced in- 
accessible to any but the goat herd and his wander- 
ing flock. The productions of this valley, as well 
as that of the Sarine, are chiefly pastoral. Of corn 
they hardly produce sufficient for the local consump- 
tion. But they have a remarkably fine breed of cat- 
tle, and their horses are much sought after, though 
the prices of the very best vary only from eight 
to ten pounds. At Boltigen, is the largest wooden 
house in all Switzerland : it belongs to and was re- 
cently erected by a Paysan (a title corresponding 



THE SIMMENTHAL. 79 

to our yeoman) said to be worth thirty thousand 
pounds, a fortune considered by his neighbours as 
quite princely. At this village I strolled into the 
church-yard while our horse was eating a feed of 
corn, where I was soon joined by the minister, whom 
I had just before seen dividing an apple between 
two of his children as they played before his door. 
He could speak no French, I could speak no German, 
so our conversation, such as it was, was carried on 
in Latin. He seemed proud of his church, which I 
found exceedingly neat and clean. When he shqw- 
ed me the font, which bore the marks of great anti- 
quity, I asked him if it was their custom to make 
use of the sign of the cross in baptism : he replied 
in the negative, and defended its disuse, by saying 
that though the action was in itself indifferent, yet 
that the ignorant might attach an importance to it 
which it did not merit. He spoke feelingly of the 
great ignorance prevailing in the Catholic Cantons, 
but candidly acknowledged that many of the Catho- 
lic clergy were now zealously exerting themselves 
in spreading the knowledge of divine truth. As we 
approached Wimmis, where the Simmenthal termi- 
nates and expands into an extensive champagne 
country, all exit seems to be precluded, by a huge 
mass of rock, which is at least six hundred feet high; 
and so strange is its position in the very centre of 



80 THE SIMMENTHAL. 

the valley, that it seems planted there by other than 
nature's hands. Exit however there is, though an 
exceedingly narrow one, and when fairly clear of it, 
we paused for a moment to look back upon it. Two 
prodigious mountains, one on each side, seem to 
guard the entrance, like giant sentries : while be- 
tween them rushes impetuously the Simmen, which 
is spanned by a very fine bridge of one elliptic arch : 
all farther insight into the valley is arrested by the 
the central mass spoken of above, and the entrance 
seems altogether to be so mysteriously closed, that 
it is impossible to behold it and not wish to pene- 
trate beyond. From hence we soon arrived at the 
castle of Spietz, beautifully situated on a promonto- 
ry, overlooking the lake of Thun. We here em- 
barked, and after a two hours row landed at Neu- 
haus ; where we found from fifteen to twenty voitu- 
riers eagerly contending for the honour of convey- 
ing us to Interlaken, distant about three miles. We 
settled the dispute by stepping into the nearest one, 
and were soon rapidly conveyed to our resting place 
for the night. We found the inn at Interlaken all 
but filled with our country-men and women. Af- 
ter supper some peasants, who were permitted to 
post themselves in an open balcony near the eating 
room, favoured us with some of their mountain 
ballads, executed in a style of excellence, which sur- 



INTERLAKEN. 81 

prised us. The peasants of this part of Switzer- 
land are famed for their musical and vocal talents : 
the voices of our little choir, consisting of five or six 
of both sexes, were very good, they kept to their 
parts remarkably well, but there was a melancholy 
character about their music which soon drove me 
to my bed ; this I found so extremely uncomfort- 
able, that I could hardly sleep ; it was in fact, a mi- 
niature plan of the country we had been traversing, 
during the day, all hill and dale. 



LETTER XII. 

CONTINUATION OF AN EXCURSION TO THE BERNESE 
OBERLAND. 

Vevey, Sept. 1826. 

Interlaken, as its name indicates, stands, and 
that about midway, between two lakes, viz. those of 
Brienz and Thun. The plain which surrounds it 
is one of extreme fertility, and thickly studded with 
fruit trees of every description, of which the walnuts 
attain an unusual size. Independent of its own indi- 
vidual attractions, which are many in point of scenery 
and climate, it is much resorted to, as affording excel- 
lent head-quarters for those who wish to take the beau- 
ties of the Bernese Oberland in detail ; the valleys 
of Meyringen, Grin del wald and Lauterbrunnen be- 
ing all within the compass of a day's ride. So great 
is the influx of strangers to this village, that besides 
a large hotel, there are established two spacious 
boarding houses, affording excellent apartments and 
good living, at the moderate rate of three francs 
and a half for each person per diem. We set out 
from thence on the 13th, at an early hour, for Lauter- 



VALLEY OF LEUTSCHEN. 83 

brunnen. After about half an hour's drive we found 
ourselves within the valley of Leutschen, with high 
and precipitous rocks on each side of us. As we 
advanced, the distant glaciers emanating from the 
Jungfrau opened upon our view, one after another, 
and under very great advantage, for they were ren- 
dered superbly brilliant by the rays of an uncloud- 
ed sun. The Leutschen which rushes along this 
romantic valley abounds in very fine trout, which 
are taken in the following singular manner. The 
fisher stations himself on the edge of the torrent at 
a point where the rush of water is most impetuous: 
he is armed with a spear, having three prongs, and 
stands prepared to strike the fish in their passage 
up or down the stream ; the occupation must either 
be a very irksome one, or one of intense interest, to 
atone for the weariness of standing for hours over a 
roaring torrent, and keeping the eye intently fixed 
upon its rushing waters. I only wonder they do 
not fall into it from giddiness and stupefaction. We 
saw several men thus employed as we passed up 
the valley, who look like so many lifeless statues, for 
they never move but to strike, and allow no extrane- 
ous objects to divert their attention. We reached 
Lauterbrunnen at nine o'clock, and having ordered 
breakfast to be got ready, set out in search of the 

celebrated cascade, called the Staubach ; a quar- 

f2 



84 STAUBACH. 

ter of an hour's walk brought us to its base. The 
fall in perpendicular altitude is said to be nine hun- 
dred feet : but at this time the quantity of water 
was so small, as to detract very materially from the 
reputation which this cascade bears in the accounts 
of tourists : the effect however was nevertheless very 
beautiful, for what little water there was being com- 
pletely converted into spray, there were rainbows 
formed at several different points of the descent, 
which gave a pleasing kind of animation to the 
strange phenomenon of a silent waterfall, for it 
reaches the ground without occasioning a much loud- 
er noise than does a heavy shower of rain : so well 
does it deserve its title of Staubach, which signifies 
dust-fall. Soon after ten o'clock, we began our 
march over the Wengern Alp. The most interest- 
ing feature belonging to this passage is the Jung* 
fraU) so called from its summit of virgin whiteness, 
which presents itself in awful majesty to the as- 
tonished gaze of the traveller, who sometimes can 
hardly believe that it is not actually just over his 
head, though in reality, he never approaches within 
a league and a half of its base. It rises to the height 
of 12,872 feet above the level of the Mediterranean 
sea; 10,432 above the valley of Lauterbrunnen. The 
glaciers which emanate from it are extremely pure ; 
much more so than those we had seen in the valley 



AVALANCHES. 85 

of Chamouni. At a hut situated just over against the 
Silver-horn, one of the summits of the Jungfrau, 
and near the highest point of our passage, we stop- 
ped to take some refreshment and repose, and dur- 
ing our frugal meal (which however consisted chiefly 
of most luxurious cream) enjoyed a most delightful 
view of this finest of mountains : it was impossible 
to grow weary of admiring its resplendent grandeur. 
Three times during our short repose the atmosphere 
resounded and seemed to tremble under the influence 
of avalanches of ice : one only was visible to us ; the 
rest probably were plunged into the gaping crevices 
of the glaciers. The avalanche we saw had exactly 
the appearance of a foaming cataract ; so completely 
was the ice reduced to powder, by striking against 
opposing rocks. Daring summer, for an hour be- 
fore and after noon, in fine weather, these pheno- 
mena are of daily occurrence. And in these alpine 
solitudes, surrounded by mountains which seem to 
claim relationship with the blue expanse of heaven, 
the effect produced by these thunder-like explosions 
is very sublime. The snow-capped mountain, out 
of the reach of man's soaring ambition (for none yet 
has been hardy enough to attempt scaling the Sil- 
ver-horn) looks like a world of itself ; and the thun- 
der of its avalanches is, as the language in which it 
asserts its superiority over the regions which lay 



86 JUVENILE SONGSTRESSES. 

extended at its base. On our descent to the valley 
of Grindelwald, in traversing a gloomy, romantic 
forest, we were way- laid, — not by a troop of arm- 
ed banditti, — but by two little girls who might be 
about twelve years old, neatly dressed, and so 
strongly resembling each other in size and fea- 
tures, that they were probably twins. As Ave drew 
near to them, they began to warble one of their 
sweet mountain ballads; and so well were their 
voices attuned, that we stood and listened to their 
simple melody for some time. After depositing our 
knapsacks at the inn at Grindelwald, we set out to 
examine a glacier, about twenty minutes walk from 
the village. Our object was, to notice what we had 
neglected to do in the valley of Chamouni, the river 
issuing from beneath the ice. It rushes out with 
great impetuosity from a vast cavern at the foot 
of the glacier. The mouth is a very perfect arch 
about thirty feet high, and having a span of about 
forty feet ; our guide pointed out to us the danger 
of approaching too near to it, there being huge 
masses of ice projecting from the roof and sides of 
the cavern, which appeared ready to fall every 
moment. Curiosity, however, prompted me to over- 
step the bounds of prudence, and to penetrate with- 
in the precincts of the cavern : but all beyond was 
darkness and confusion ; immense blocks of ice lay 



GLACIER OF GRINDELWALD. 87 

here and there in the bed of the torrent, which, by- 
impeding its course, only served to increase its 
impetuosity. As we stood at the foot of the gla- 
cier, it presented to us a perpendicular face about 
one hundred feet high ; but seen from a short dis- 
tance, when the whole of its altitude is taken in at 
one coup d'ceuil, it appears to rise to a height of at 
least seven hundred feet. We returned to our inn at 
half-past five, sat down with most rustic appetites 
to a good dinner, and as we afterwards drank our 
coffee, were serenaded in very good style by a parity 
of five or six peasants, who had posted themselves 
under our windows for that purpose. The distance 
fromLauterbrunnen to Grin del wald is seven leagues, 
and we walked it in about so many hours : the high- 
est point of the passage being 3844 feet above the 
level of the valley from whence we started. 



LETTER XIII. 

CONTINUATION OF AN EXCURSION TO THE BERNESE 
OBERLAND. 

Vevey, Oct. 1826. 

Early on the morning of the fourteenth, we re- 
sumed our march, having before us, for our day's 
excursion, the passage of the Scheideg, rising about 
three thousand feet above the village where we slept; 
and after that a drive of twelve miles to Brienz. We 
found the ascent from Grindelwald by no means dif- 
ficult, and accomplished it easily in three hours : we 
had delightful views of the valley behind us, abound- 
ing in the rarest domestic beauties, as well as of the 
rugged mountains which hem it in on every side : 
and visited a glacier which lay about a mile out of our 
path, possessed however of no particular interest. 
Having attained the higest point of the passage, we 
directed our steps to a cow-herd's cabin, where we 
feasted as usual on the productions of the mountain 
pastures. We then began to descend, and after pro- 
ceeding onwards about half an hour, entered a vast 
forest of pines, through the openings of which we 



VALLEY OF ROSENLAUI. 89 

had frequent views of the Wetter-horn and Schreck- 
horn, raising their snow-white heads high above the 
clouds, on our right. On one of these occasions we 
were fortunate enough to see a very fine avalanche of 
ice, which being precipitated from a height of seven or 
eight hundred feet down the rugged face of the moun- 
tain, resembled, as I have before observed, a magnifi- 
cent water-fall, though in noise, it exceeded every 
thing short of the loudest thunder : it continued for the 
space of a couple of minutes, and completely rivetted 
our attention. But by far the most interesting portion 
of the descent from the Scheideg to Meyringen, is the 
secluded valley of Rosenlaui. It consists of a large 
open glade in the midst of the forest, hemmed in on 
two sides by lofty mountains, and on the remaining 
two by screens of the dark and sombre pine. The 
weather was most auspicious, it being one of those 
clear, still, balmy days, which are to be met with 
only in autumn, And as we lay at full length, in the 
centre of the glade, on the rich mossy carpet which 
invited to repose, the only sound which met our 
ears, was the distant roaring of cataracts ; of these, 
two only were visible, and they were partly hidden 
by the lofty pine groves upon which they seemed to 
fall : the one on the south side of the valley chiefly 
attracted our attention; for behind it rose an am- 
phitheatre of glaciers, terminating in the lofty rid- 



90 VALLEY OF ROSENLAUI. 

ges of the Wetter-horn and Mettenberg, broken 
into the most fantastic forms, and presenting a suc- 
cession of Aiguilles vying with each other in ele- 
gance and lightness of symetry. The glaciers, which, 
from different points, converge to the base of the am- 
phitheatre, present a surface so abrupt, that it seems 
as if nothing could prevent their united mass from 
rushing headlong, and converting the verdant and 
peaceful valley into a scene of havoc and desolation : 
its downward progress is however effectually re- 
strained by a prodigions rock, itself a mountain, 
which is planted as it were on purpose at its base : 
this being crowned with pines, forms a striking con- 
trast to the splendid scene which it terminates. Af- 
ter some time spent in unmingled admiration of the 
whole scene, in order that we might survey the 
glacier and its accompanying scenery more in de- 
tail, we had to surmount the huge opposing rock, a 
work attended with some fatigue, which, however, 
was amply compensated for by the wonders which 
nature here exposed to our view. We first directed 
our steps to a vast grotto formed in the solid mass 
of ice. A beautifully turned arch-way conducts to 
its inner recesses, whose beauties no language can 
express. It is quite a fairy palace ; the roof and 
sides are of the purest and most transparent ice, of 
a fine azure colour : at the further extremity rushes 



VALLEY OF ROSENLAUI. 91 

an impetuous torrent, with a noise like thunder, 
loses itself again under the foundation of the glacier, 
and finally forms the cataract which we had seen 
from the glade beneath. We were soon driven from 
admiring the beauties of the grotto, by the extreme 
cold, not less than by the continued dripping from 
the roof. On emerging from it, we saw a succession 
of water-falls, which had previously escaped our 
notice, rushing down a narrow glen from the moun- 
tains above : it is the water of this torrent, which, 
having worn itself a passage under the glacier, shows 
itself in the grotto, again loses itself in unfathoma- 
ble chasms, — then, issuing from its secret path, 
shoots over the edge of a precipice, falls headlong 
into the valley, and there is seen winding onwards 
its peaceful way, as if weary of its recent agitated 
course. We dwelt on the grandeur of the scenery 
which lay beneath, and all round us, with unwearied 
pleasure, and, at last, only hurried away lest we 
should be too late to see the falls of the Reichen- 
bach. Within a very short period, there has been 
established, in the valley of Rosenlaui, a tolerably 
good boarding house, for the immediate convenience 
of invalids who go there to take advantage of the 
baths of sulphureous water : but I know of no place 
in Switzerland that I would so willingly fix upon 
for the abode of a few weeks, as this, on which na- 



92 THE REICHENBACH. 

tare seems to have bestowed the choicest of all her 
various gifts. On looking at our watches, we found 
that we had but a very short time left us for de- 
scending to the Reichenbach before sun -set ; we 
therefore made a forced march of it, and accom- 
plished the distance in half an hour short of the 
time it usually occupies ; and were rewarded for our 
extra exertion, by seeing the falls to the greatest 
possible advantage. The body of water, which we 
found very considerable, finds its way into the river 
Aar, which waters the valley of Meyringen, by se- 
ven successive falls ; the first is three hundred feet 
in perpendicular height, the others varying between 
one and two hundred. Its course is fringed with 
trees of various descriptions, which sometimes par- 
tially conceal it from view. It is, as the French 
express it, de toute beaute, and only yields, in my 
estimation, to the falls of Terni in Italy. The val- 
ley of Meyringen, extended at our feet, next attract- 
ed our attention, with its numerous cascades, all 
hastening to pay their tribute to the Aar : of this it 
must suffice to say, that it is among the most pic- 
turesque of the Bernese Oberland. We were not 
sorry to find ourselves once more on level ground, 
after having been on foot among the mountains for 
about nine hours. To the no small chagrin of the 
landlord of the inn at Meyringen* we only staid to 



BRIENZ. 93 

change our dress, and then immediately proceeded 
in a carriage to Brienz. Of our drive I can say 
little ; for, owing to the fatigues of the day, we were 
soon " locked in slumber's arms," and were only 
wakened by the pattering of a heavy rain upon 
the roof of our carriage, which almost immediate- 
ly stopped at the door of the inn at Brienz, where, 
owing to the great number of tourists from va- 
rious countries, we had some difficulty in procur- 
ing beds. Nothing could have been more delightful 
than our this day's walk ; the atmospere was singu- 
larly clear, so long as its clearness was of any im- 
portance to us, and the scenery such as we dare not 
expect to enjoy again, unless by a repetition of the 
same tour. 

Our journey on the following day (the fifteenth) 
was so easy, being performed for the most part by 
water, as to be really irksome; so necessary is actual 
exertion to the real enjoyment of Swiss scenery ; for 
the lakes of Brienz and Thun yield to none in point 
of beauty. It was nine o'clock when we entered 
our bark, which was rowed by two men and one 
woman, who pulled quite as well, if not better, than 
her male companions. Half an hour's rowing brought 
us to the foot of the Giesbach, a water-fall on the 
south side of the lake. We here stepped out of the 
boat, and, with our guide, ascended to the higher 



94 THE SCHOOLMASTER OF BRIENZ 

parts of the fall, by a commodious path, constructed 
by the schoolmaster of Brienz, who resides here dur- 
ing the summer months, and, with his family, is no 
less an object of curiosity, than the falls are of ad- 
miration. He has two daughters and two or three 
sons, all of whom have extraordinary musical ta- 
lents ; while he, having some science as well as na- 
tural taste, has been enabled, by instructing them in 
some of the simple rules of music, to form out of his 
own family a chorus of first-rate singers. We en- 
tered his neat cottage, built so as to command fine 
views of the cascade which is hard by ; and, after 
waiting a short time, were welcomed by the worthy 
owner ; who, on learning our approach from one of 
his children, left his laborious occupation of cutting 
wood, and, with a countenance beaming with bene- 
volence, and having cheerfulness and contentment 
strongly marked in its every feature, received us 
with a natural politeness, which many, who pride 
themselves on their birth and education, would do 
well to imitate. I was so completely possessed with 
his venerable appearance, that I could not summon 
resolution to ask him for a display of the musical 
talents of himself and of his family ; but, as if aware 
of my embarrassment, he immediately seated himself 
at a little spinet which stood on one side of his par- 
lour, and, with his family forming an interesting 



AND HIS FAMILY. 95 

group behind him, they all first tuned their voices in- 
to harmony, and then gave us some of their best patri- 
otic songs, in a style of excellence quite astonishing. 
To these we listened for some time with increasing 
delight : but the greatest treat of all was to hear our 
own national anthem, sung too in our own language, 
by this pastoral choir. Of course it was utterly im- 
possible to be silent on such an occasion, and, join- 
ing our voices with theirs, we made the little par- 
lour resound again. They sung to us sometime 
longer : but the spell was broken ; we had heard our 
own song in a strange land : our taste became un- 
tuned for more ordinary melody, and we took our 
leave of this interesting family, to continue our 
search after the picturesque. Like the Reichenbach, 
the Giesbach consists of a succession of falls, but 
far exceeds the former in the beauty of its circum- 
jacent scenery, though it does not perhaps afford so 
many savage and majestic points of view. One of 
the falls shoots far over a projecting rock, so that 
we were enabled to get behind it. We had here an 
opportunity of estimating the prodigious force ac- 
quired by the water in its fall : but what chiefly at- 
tracted our attention and excited our admiration, 
was a view of the tranquil lake beneath, and of the 
mountains opposite, seen through this ever varying 
liquid transparency, and contrasting in their placid 



96 VALLEY OF INTERLAKEN. 

stillness with the impetuous rushing of the medium 
through which they were seen. An hour, occupied 
in admiring the beauties of this romantic spot, pass- 
ed most rapidly away, and it was not without regret 
that we finally turned our backs upon them. On 
descending to our boat, when we had nearly gained 
the water's edge, our attention was again drawn up- 
wards by the schoolmaster and his family, who group- 
ed together on a projecting rock, gave us the real ranz 
des vaches, he with a long wooden horn, and they with 
their voices : it will be long ere I forget the pleasing 
effect produced by this rural concert, their voices 
mingled so harmoniously with the distant roaring of 
the cataract. Two hours rowing brought us once 
more to Interlaken. — The plain which separates 
the two lakes of Brienz and Thuii nd which I be- 
fore mentioned as being extremely fertile, is com- 
posed of such materials as is generally found in 
the beds of rivers ; and besides this there are other 
indications in the neighbourhood inducing a belief 
that these two lakes were formerly one : and it is a 
singular fact, that many of the lakes of Switzer- 
land (that of Geneva and these two in particular) 
are surrounded with indications of having at some 
period of time stood much above their actual level. 
A mountain near Interlaken has lately been sur- 
rounded with a high fence at the expense of govern- 
ment, and the enclosure appropriated to a flock of 



THUN. 97 

Cashmire goats, from the produce of which it is ex- 
pected they will soon be able to manufacture the ce- 
lebrated shawls of that name. We reached Thun 
in time to walk over it and see something of its si- 
tuation, which is very picturesque. The Aar tra- 
verses it in several separate channels ; and its envi- 
rons are exceedingly beautiful ; of which a fine pros- 
pect is obtained, from a terrace near the church. 
The following morning we set out on our return to 
Vevey, retracing our original route as far as Bolti- 
gen ; where, to use a vulgar phrase, we bolted out 
of the line of our previous journey and crossed the 
mountains to Bulle. The way was long, our guides 
not very well acquainted with it, and ere we reach- 
ed Bulle we were much more weary than we had 
been on either of the preceding days, though the dis- 
tance was less : I before observed that bodily exer- 
tion was necessary to the full enjoyment of Alpine 
scenery, and I may here remark, that fine scenery, or 
in other words, something to interest the imagination, 
is equally necessary as a safeguard against +he weari- 
ness otherwise consequent on long continued exer- 
tion. We reached Vevey the following morning, 
having spent six days most agreeably in this inter- 
esting excursion. 

a 



LETTER XIV. 

SWISS CHARACTER SCHOOLS — CHURCH WINE. 

Vevey, Oct. 1826. 

We have now had four months experience of 
Swiss manners and habits, and you will naturally 
expect that I should give you some account of them. 
Truth to say the task is not an agreeable one — for, in 
one word, our expectations as to Swiss honesty, 
Swiss simplicity of character, and, above all, Swiss 
freedom, have been grievously disappointed. " Point 
d' argent, point de Suisse" is so trite a proverb that 
I am almost ashamed to repeat it here, but I am 
obliged to confess that it is founded on fact. In- 
deed the nation that sells the blood of its citizens to 
the highest bidder cannot complain if reflections are 
made on its character, derogatory of that high prin- 
ciple of honour, which dictates that a man should 
never draw his sword but in the defence of his own 
religion, laws, and liberty. The kings of France, 
Spain, and Naples, and the Pope, are surrounded 
with Swiss guards — nor is this an innovation of the 



SWISS CHARACTER. 99 

day — it is a system of long standing, and one which 
cannot fail of being attended with prejudicial effects. 
Men who have served under so many different sove- 
reigns come home imbued with as many different 
interests, and are the means of keeping up a spirit of 
jealousy among the Swiss cantons, which necessa- 
rily throws difficulties in the way of their political 
improvement. Hence that spirit of venality, which 
prevails among the members of the Swiss Diet, and 
which leads to the enactment of laws more charac- 
teristic of an arbitrary despotism, than of a republi- 
can form of government. I allude more especially 
to the unheard-of laws which have recently been 
adopted for tbe regulation of the press. No news- 
paper or periodical publication is to treat argumen- 
tatively of the politics of foreign countries : and 
any observations their editors may wish to make on 
the internal policy of Switzerland, must before pu- 
blication be submitted to the censor. It is well 
known that these laws have been dictated by France 
and Austria, whose pension lists, could they be made 
public, would read a melancholy lesson on Swiss 
honesty and patriotism. Do not however under- 
stand me as pronouncing any thing like an univer- 
sal censure : Switzerland can produce many upright 
characters ; and it is a notorious fact, that num- 
bers of her more enlightened citizens, finding their 

g 2 



100 SWISS CHARACTER. 

efforts in the cause of liberty effectually neutralised 
by the diligent application of foreign gold, withdraw 
altogether from public affairs, and finding resistance 
hopeless, just swim with the tide. Such are the 
baneful effects entailed on Switzerland by her fo- 
reign-service system, through the medium of the 
higher classes of society. And do the lower orders, 
the common soldiers, return to their native valleys 
as good citizens as when they first left them ? Have 
they resided in Paris, Madrid and Naples, for ten or 
fifteen years, and escaped unpolluted ? The ques- 
tion is idle. Dissolute habits must and will be ac- 
quired by the majority of those who are placed in 
such situations ; with these they return to their na- 
tive villages, and we all know that the contagion of 
vice is as rapid as that of the plague. Hence that 
simplicity of character and stern morality, which na- 
turally belong to the character of a hardy moun- 
taineer, though certainly to be met with in many 
parts of Switzerland, are still very rarely to be 
found, in those cantons where foreign enlistment 
is most encouraged. The facility with which mar- 
riages are dissolved, the mutual consent of the 
parties, declared before a magistrate, being all that 
is necessary, is a never failing sign of a deprav- 
ed state of society ; whilst a prevailing disposition to 
impose upon the unwary, by all the varied arts of 



SWISS CHARACTER. 101 

cunning, falsehood and bold effrontery, too clearly 
denote the rapidly declining influence of right prin- 
ciple and integrity. A country, whose legislature is 
swayed by foreign influence, cannot be expected to 
enjoy internal freedom. The Diet dare not set it- 
self to remove abuses, whose existence is favourable 
to the exercise of despotic power, nor to frame laws 
essential to the growth of rational freedom. Their 
hands are effectually tied as to all matters of real na- 
tional importance, and their legislative enactments 
are consequently confined to very narrow limits. It 
is a curious fact, that Switzerland is now the only 
country in Europe where the torture is practised ; 
but its exercise is chiefly confined to the Catholic 
cantons, which in the progress of civilization are at 
least a century behind those in which the reformed 
religion prevails. — The Swiss are decidedly a mar- 
tial race : every man, no matter what his station in 
society, must serve a certain length of time in the 
militia, which is called out on permanent duty for a 
month or six weeks annually. Their amusements 
are martial : every man who can possibly afford it 
is provided with a rifle : three or four or five vil- 
lages, according to their situation, form themselves 
into shooting clubs, and meet frequently during 
summer to contend for prizes. There is also a na- 
tional meeting, of select tirailleurs, from each canton, 



102 SCHOOLS — CHURCH. 

annually held at Bern for the same purpose. — Each 
village in the protestant cantons has a parochial 
school, maintained at the expense of the commune, 
to which parents are in a manner compelled to send 
their children, up to a certain age, during the win- 
ter months : hence you scarcely ever meet with a 
Swiss protestant peasant who cannot both read and 
write. — The clergy are maintained at the national 
expense, and receive a regular stipend of two thou- 
sand Swiss francs annually, which is equivalent to 
about one hundred guineas. The younger clergy are 
sent to exercise their functions in the remoter vil- 
lages, and as they grow older, are gradually pro- 
moted to the towns. Their education (I am only 
speaking of the protestant clergy) is chiefly carried 
on at Geneva, where they imbibe doctrines essential- 
ly Socinian. A class of ministers opposed to these 
doctrines has recently sprung up, who by going too 
far, have deprived themselves of the power of work- 
ing that reformation in religious opinions, which is 
so loudly called for. When I first attended a Swiss 
church, I was surprised and shocked to see the male 
part of the congregation sitting with their hats on 
during the reading of the lesson : on the commence- 
ment of the prayer they uncovered, but resumed 
their hats when the minister began his sermon. I 
expressed my opinion, of this breach of decorum, to 



WINE. 103 

a Swiss clergyman, who agreed with me in thinking 
it highly unbecoming. " But," he added, " within 
my own recollection, the minister also was expected 
to be covered except during the act of prayer." 
The congregations chiefly consist of females, the 
men usually fixing on Sunday for the meeting of 
their shooting-clubs. We were astonished one Sun- 
day, on looking out of our windows, to see a num- 
ber of people employed in hay-making. 

Wine is the staple produce of the whole line of 
country bordering on the north side of the lake.— 
There are various descriptions of it according to soil 
and exposure, but the best is that known by the name 
of la cote, which very closely resembles the Moselle 
wine. Legislative enactments are not wanting to en- 
sure the good quality of the wine : the government, 
that is to say, the local government of the canton, as- 
sumes to itself the right of deciding when the vin- 
tage shall commence, and without a warrant from 
the constituted authorities no private individual has 
the power of gathering his own grapes, if it be 
for the purpose of making wine. Guards are ap- 
pointed by each commune, who, from the time 
the grapes begin to ripen, keep watch by night 
and by day, not only to keep off* depredators, but 
to prevent any infringement of the law. When the 
vintage does begin, it is so general that it is attend- 



104 VINTAGE. 

ed with a degree of bustle and cheerful anima- 
tion, to which our harvest has nothing to compare. 
The roads are covered with carts conveying the 
juicy produce in casks to the wine-press, — not a 
soul is idle, — mirth sits conspicuous on every coun- 
tenance, and the whole scene is one of unmin- 
gled cheerfulness and gaiety. — The snow appearing 
on the heights above Meillierie, warns us that it is 
time to leave our present quarters : we propose ac- 
cordingly setting out on the 16th instant, and my 
next letter will be dated from Milan or Pisa. 



LETTER XV. 

DEPARTURE FROM VEVEY SION CRETINS SIMPLON 

— ISOLA BELLA. 

Milan, Oct. 24, 1826, 

We bid adieu to the shores of the " clear and pla- 
cid Leman," on Monday the 10th instant, having 
hired a commodious carriage and four good horses, for 
the whole journey from thence to Florence ; which 
our vetturino promises to perform in twelve days. 
We set out under very favourable auspices, the 
weather (as generally happens at this season of 
the year) was remarkably fine, and the woods were 
decked in their gayest autumnal livery. And gay 
indeed it was. I never in my life saw foliage as- 
sume such brilliant colours : yellow and red of dif- 
ferent shades, mingled with each other in beautiful 
irregularity; and yet it was impossible to look upon 
all this splendour of colouring without reflecting, 
that it was but a prelude to the dreary sameness of 
winter. The pleasant inn at Bex was our first night's 
resting-place. — The following morning we started 
early, and saw the Pisse Vache in all its beauty, with 



105 SION. 

a bright sun shining full upon it. About five in the 
evening we reached Sion. This being the capital of 
the Vallais, (after Bern and the Grisons, the largest 
canton in Switzerland) and having been formerly 
the residence of the Prince Bishops of Sion, is, or 
rather has been, a place of great importance. Its 
situation, on a rising ground, in the centre of the 
valley, is very commanding ; while standing on a 
rocky eminence, which overlooks the town, the ru- 
ins (for such they now may be called) of the Epis- 
copal palace and fortress constitute a very interest- 
ing portion of the picture. It has once been a place 
of great strength, from the inaccessibility of its posi- 
tion, and, doubtless, has witnessed many a gallant 
tournament, and many a traitorous deed; for the 
Bishops of Sion, though noted warriors, bore but an 
ill reputation. The clang of arms however has long 
since ceased to sound among its airy battlements: on- 
ly a few monks occupy these otherwise deserted 
ruins, and as we walked at dusk under the lofty 
walls, the occasional creaking of a window signified 
the presence of inhabitants within; while a partridge 
which rose at our feet, proved that the precincts, 
though within five minutes walk of the city, were 
seldom disturbed by such intrusive visitors as our- 
selves. We enjoyed an extensive prospect up and down 
the valley : the setting sun shed a rich and pleas- 



CRETINS. 107 

ing light over the scene, and, contemplated as a 
picture, nothing could be more beautiful. Lofty 
mountains, their summits peering above the lower 
clouds, and crowned, some of them, with eternal snow, 
enclose the valley on every side in such a manner 
that no outlet is to be seen. Their sides are richly 
clothed with forests, while near their bases, the vine 
is cultivated to a great extent and with considerable 
success. The Rhone gracefully meandering through 
the meadows in the vale beneath, completes the pic- 
ture; which, however, beautiful though it be, will not 
bear an examination in detail ; for the " Lords of the 
Creation," who inhabit this seeming paradise, are 
debased with every species of deformity. Goitres 
are almost universally prevalent. The eye however 
soon becomes habituated to these corporal deformi- 
ties, and learns to look upon their wearers with 
something approaching to indifference. But it is o- 
therwise with the Cretins ; miserable victims of in- 
tellectual deformity, whom it is impossible to behold 
without pain and commisseration. Each village 
presents a number of these unfortunate beings : 
they generally appear tranquil, are usually engaged 
in some simple occupation : but the unmeaning 
smile, which they assume on the approach of stran- 
gers, gives a frightful expression to features which 
seem never to have been designed for rational be- 
ings. These poor objects are generally the off- 



108 CRETINS. 

spring of parents excessively afflicted with goitres. 
During the French regime, marriages among such 
were strictly forbidden, and had it continued a few- 
years longer, a new race of beings might have 
sprung up, more worthy of being styled the sons of 
Adam ; but with the restoration of the ancient dy- 
nasty, returned all the misrule which had contributed 
to make the canton du Vallais what it is. Marriages 
are allowed to be contracted without any regard to 
consequences ; and I shall never, while I live, forget 
seeing upon a bench outside a miserable hut, an 
idiotic father and mother fondling an idiotic child. 
Sion in nothing resembles its name -city — it certain- 
ly is not a " pleasant place," for it is hard to know 
which most to decry, the filthy inns, the filthy streets, 
or the filthy inhabitants. — On the 18th, while our 
horses were resting at Tourtomagne, we went to see 
a water-fall, about a twenty minutes walk from the 
inn. Its situation is romantic enough in a seclud- 
ed dell, where the sun's rays seldom penetrate. It 
is about one hundred and fifty feet high ; the body 
of water is not very considerable, and what is the 
most remarkable circumstance attending it, instead 
of falling perpendicularly, it descends in a lateral 
curve, occasioned by a projection in the rock. It 
was late before we reached Brig, and in consequence 
of the great influx of travellers, who always sleep 
here preparatory to crossing the Simplon, we had 



SIMPLON. 109 

some difficulty in procuring beds. — The 9th was 
entirely taken up in crossing the Simplon. We set 
out at half-past six with seven post horses ; these 
drew us up the most fatiguing part of the ascent, 
when our vetturino, who had gone on before, yoked 
his horses, which were fresh, and we were thus ena- 
bled to reach Domod'Ossolaby half-past seven in the 
evening. In traversing the Simplon, one hardly knows 
which most to admire, the skill, spirit, and ingenuity 
of the engineer who planned the road, or the magni- 
ficent scenery through which it is conducted. There 
are between Brig and Domo d'Ossola, a distance of 
fourteen leagues, or about forty-five miles, twenty - 
two bridges, chiefly constructed of wood ; six gal- 
leries cut in the solid rock ; of which one, the Gal- 
lery of Gondo, is 625 feet long. The width of the 
road is uniformly 25 feet, and the ascent nowhere 
exceeds two feet and a half in six. Houses of re- 
fuge, regularly numbered, occur every two or three 
miles, where in stormy weather the traveller may 
always take shelter. The highest point of the pas- 
sage is marked by a column, and is 6174 feet above 
the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Owing to the 
frequency with which the road almost turns upon 
itself, great caution is requisite in descending : it is 
unsafe to descend with less than two drag-chains, if 
the carriage be at all a heavy one, as nothing is more 



110 ISOLA BELLA. 

common than for one wheel to slip its shoe at the turn- 
ings, to say nothing of the chance of a chain snapping 
in two. We had a delightful day for our passage : had 
we been ten days earlier, we should have had two 
feet deep of snow ; but, as it was, we found the road 
actually dusty in many places. From Domo d'Os- 
sola, we rolled along the finest road in the world, 
visiting on our way Count Boromeo's beautiful 
island in the Lago Maggiore. Taken altogether, I 
should think that, in the way of gardens, it is the 
most princely structure in the world. It is about 
a mile in circumference, and rises near 200 feet 
above the level of the lake. Its form is pyramidal, 
and it consists of a succession of ten terraces, ris- 
ing above one another, and all supported on arches ; 
while above all is a spacious platform, containing a 
superb fountain, decorated with colossal figures of 
sea gods and horses, which are seen at a great dis- 
tance. The gardens abound with every species of 
shrub, flower, and fruit-tree, which will live in this 
genial climate. Lemon and citron trees cover all 
the walls, and present a splendid display of fruit : 
we observed also some sharrocks, or, as the gardener 
named them, apples of Adam. The platform on the 
top of the island is set apart as a botanical garden, 
which, for the richness of its specimens of exotic 
plants, and the order in which it is kept, may vie 



COLOSSAL STATUE. HI 

with most public institutions of the same kind. 
The palace is a fine structure, and the suit of apart- 
ments on the ground floor, decorated throughout 
with shell work, and ornamented with beautiful 
statues by the best modern sculptors, is not equalled 
by any thing of the kind in Europe. The Count, 
with his family, resides here a great deal, and living 
as he does en Prince, and inheriting from the head 
of his family a benevolent disposition, which his 
princely revenues enable him to put in practice, he 
is highly and deservedly popular. We were too 
late, on passing Arona, to pay a visit to the colossal 
bronze statue erected to the memory of the great 
founder of the family, San Carlo Boromeo ; I had, 
however, seen it on a former occasion. It is 112 
feet high, including the pedestal, which alone is 40: 
being composed of plates of bronze, it is hollow, 
and there is plenty of room to climb up through 
the poor cardinal's inward parts, and reach the 
head, which is so large, that it would contain half a 
dozen persons with ease ; the nose forms a most lux- 
urious seat. At the back of the head is a small 
window, which commands a fine prospect over the 
lake and circumjacent country. This statue occu- 
pies a commanding station on a hill immediately 
behind Arona, and is plainly discernible at the dis- 
tance of many miles : it represents the worthy saint 



112 COLOSSAL STATUE. 

in the act of pronouncing a benediction on the sur- 
rounding country and the lake. But the effect is 
rather disappointing ; every thing around being co- 
lossal, and on a grand scale, the figure of the cardi- 
nal only seems to correspond with the rest of the 
scenery, and looks like a studious friar with his book 
under his arm, going out to take a contemplative 
walk. We reached this place at four o'clock on the 
22d. 



LETTER XVI. 

MILAN — CATHEDRAL — SAN CARLO BOROMEO BRERA 

ARENA TRIUMPHAL ARCH AMBROSIAN LIBRARY 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

Milan, Oct. 1826. 

The day subsequent to our arrival here was agree- 
ably occupied in visiting some of the various objects 
of interest which this city contains. Our steps were 
first directed to the Duomo, of whose exquisite 
beauty it is impossible. to speak in terms sufficiently 
laudatory. It reflects honour on the age in which 
it was begun (about 500 years ago), and equally so 
on the architects and even the workmen, such is its 
extraordinary finish, who have been successively 
employed in its construction. It is one of the bright 
spots in Napoleon's character, that, under his espe- 
cial auspices, much was done, and more contem- 
plated, towards its completion; and it is perhaps 
the only thing connected with his rule over North- 
ern Italy that reflects any lustre on the memory of 
the Emperor of Austria, that he has not only " de- 
creed" its completion, but is actually making rapid 
progress towards a consummation so much to be 

H 



114 CATHEDRAL. 

desired. Its style is florid Gothic, and it is built of 
white marble — perhaps not the most appropriate ma- 
terial for a Gothic structure : it is 449 feet long, 275 
broad, and 238 feet from the pavement to the top of 
the statue, which crowns its spire. The number of 
marble statues which decorate it externally is some- 
what above 6,000 ; many of them being above the 
natural size. Of those in the interior of the build- 
ing, the one most worthy of notice is a statue of 
St. Bartholomew by Agrati : it represents the holy 
martyr, just after having been flayed alive, with his 
skin thrown over his left shoulder : it is remarkable 
for the amazing truth with which every muscle and 
fibre is expressed, and, on the whole, is so exactly 
what one may imagine he would have been, that it 
is impossible to look upon it without horror. — The 
tomb of San Carlo Boromeo next attracted our at- 
tention — the most costly mausoleum in the world. 
The saint's body (for such his exemplary piety and 
boundless benevolence entitle him to be called) be- 
ing embalmed, reposes in a sarcophagus of rock 
crystal, which was presented to the cathedral for 
the purpose by Philip the Fourth of Spain : such is 
the transparency of the crystal, that it shows but 
too distinctly those blackened features which once 
beamed with benevolence; the splendid archiepis- 
copal robes in which he is arrayed afford a mourn- 



SAN CARLO BOROMEO. H5 

ful contrast to the corrupted corpse which they part- 
ly expose to the view. The golden crozier, richly 
studded with precious stones, lies by his side, and 
several other valuable ornaments decorate his tomb. 
This was really a wonderful man : he spent his life 
(only too short, for he died at the age of forty-seven) 
in dispensing substantial blessings to all who wore the 
garb of distress, and were within reach of his obser- 
vation : during the prevalence of the plague at Mi- 
lan, he regularly administered the sacrament to the 
sufferers in the Lazaretto : and during a time of 
scarcity he distributed in one day to the amount of 
^SOjOOO in donations to the poor. His memory is 
cherished by the Milanese with the greatest devotion. 
Unfortunately, his biographers, in order to entitle 
him to canonization, not contented with describing 
him as a model of virtue and heroism, have thought 
proper to ascribe to him the power of working mi- 
racles, from which the rational inquirer turns away 
with disgust, and which he himself would most as- 
suredly have disclaimed when he was living. He 
died in the year 1580. The Brera, a spacious build- 
ing appropriated to national exhibitions, contains, 
besides an extensive library, a fine collection of pic- 
tures, of which the most remarkable for their ex- 
cellence, are Abraham dismissing Hagar, by Guer- 
cino ; St. Paul rebuking St Peter, by Guido ; St. 

h 2 



116 PICTURE GALLERY — ARENA. 

Francis adoring the Virgin, by Vandyke, and some 
dancing Cupids, by Albani. The second of these 
pleased me most : there is a mild, affectionate, yet 
dignified firmness in the manner of St. Paul as he 
" withstood" St. Peter " to the face," as he himself 
expresses it; and at the same time an air of unwilling, 
but humbling conviction in the figure of the latter, 
as he leans his head upon his hand as if unable to 
meet the steady gaze of the other apostle, that one 
is transported in imagination back to the apostolical 
times, and can hardly believe that that which rivets 
our attention, is mere painted canvass. The gallery 
contains a copious collection of paintings of the ear- 
ly school ; but these are more interesting, as point- 
ing out the progress of the art from its earliest in- 
fancy until it reached its perfection under Raphael, 
Guido, and their compeers, than as possessing much 
real merit of their own — The arena, to which we 
next proceeded, is a spacious amphitheatre after the 
manner of the ancients, capable of accommodating 
thirty-six thousand spectators. It is used for cha- 
riot and horse-races, and occasionally a naumachia 
is exhibited : I should hardly say occasionally, for I 
believe it occurred only once, and that was in 
honour of Napoleon : it can be supplied with water 
sufficient for this purpose in two hours. The Pul- 
vmare 9 or Imperial Lodge, is a splendid corridor, 



TRIUMPHAL ARCH. 117 

having a row of lofty granite columns of the Corin- 
thian order in front. — Oar next point was the tri- 
umphal arch, commenced under Napoleon, whose 
conquest of Northern Italy from the Austrians, it 
was intended to commemorate. Fortunately for the 
world his triumphs were drawn to a more speedy 
conclusion, than the designers of this monument to 
his victories contemplated. It had, however, made 
considerable progress before this turn of events took 
place, and remained for about ten years, no unapt 
representation of the many unfinished schemes of 
aggrandisement commenced by that extraordinary 
man, but never executed. Much of the ornamental 
work was finished and ready for putting up when 
his career terminated, and is now exhibited in the 
wooden sheds which surround the unfinished arch. 
The basso rilievos are beautiful, and are chiefly 
illustrative of Napoleon's triumphs over the Aus- 
trians. The Austrian government has now de- 
cided on completing this beautiful monument; but 
I cannot bring myself to believe that these almost 
indestructible mementos of their numerous defeats, 
will be allowed, as originally intended, to form part 
of it. — Leonardo da Vinci's famous picture of the 
Last Supper, is fast mouldering to decay. The 
French were accused of having made use of the heads 
of our Saviour and his disciples as marks to fire at 



118 AMBROSIAN LIBRARY. 

on wet days. As far as I could see, the accusation 
is utterly groundless : or if it be true, it leaves 
the French no character as marksmen, for not one of 
the heads is hit, though sixty paces is the great- 
est distance at which they could have stood. There 
is no picture of which there is so great a variety of 
copies and engravings, as of this ; but, in a few more 
years, so completely has the damp got possession of 
the wall on which it is painted, it will no longer ex- 
ist : indeed the figures are now very indistinct, and 
so little is oil-painting on stucco understood, that 
there is no chance of its being restored. — In the Am- 
brosian Library, we saw a folio MS. of Virgil of the 
fourteenth century, with marginal notes in the hand- 
writing of Petrarch : on a blank leaf in the begin- 
ning is written in the same hand an account of his 
meeting with Laura, and of her death, and he as- 
signs as a reason for noting it here, that being part 
of the book which he most delighted to study, it 
would the oftener meet his eye. There are other 
MSS. valuable for their antiquity and the manner 
in which they are illuminated, but whose titles I 
forget. Contiguous to the library, is a room contain- 
ing some good pictures, and what is very highly 
prized, the Cartoon, or original drawing by RafFael, 
of the so celebrated school of Athens. 

Milan is a fine city, yet it would be difficult to 



MILAN. 119 

point out any single street (squares, there are none 
which really deserve the title) possessing any claim to 
be considered of itself as any thing very remarkable. 
But there is an air of cleanliness, and activity about 
it, attended with all the pomp and circumstance 
of a numerous garrison, which makes it rank very 
high among the modern capitals of Europe. It is 
no longer considered as a place of strength ; its bat- 
teries are dismantled, its ramparts planted with 
trees, and converted into most delightful walks and 
drives. It has long been the head quarters of the 
Austrian army, and consequently with much gaiety 
there is also much dissipation among its inhabi- 
tants. In the midst of a plain, the most fertile per- 
haps in the world, where a vast quantity of vegeta- 
ble matter is constantly being decomposed, its cli- 
mate is said to be unhealthy, though, to protect it 
as much as possible, great care is taken in cleansing 
the streets and keeping the sewers open ; while the 
growth of rice, # is strictly prohibited within the dis- 
tance of ten miles from the city. 

There is no other city south of the Alps, which 
has given such liberal encouragement to the im- 
provements of modern times. Numerous stage- 



* The rice grounds are covered with water from seed-time 
to harvest. 



120 IMPROVEMENTS. 

coaches, built like our English ones, though not 
quite so light and elegant, ply daily to Como, Lecco f 
Bergamo, and other places in the neighbourhood : and 
with such dispatch, that a person may now leave Mi- 
lan in the morning, and by the aid of a steam-pack- 
et, see nearly all the Lake of Como and return at 
night ; travelling, in eighteen hours, a distance of 
ninety miles. 



LETTER XVII. 

SHAM FIGHT LODI — PARMA BOLOGNA NATURAL 

PHENOMENON ON THE SUMMIT OF THE APPENINES 
ARRIVAL AT FLORENCE. 

Florence, November 1, 1826. 

We prolonged our stay at Milan beyond our in- 
tended time, in order to be present at a mock en- 
gagement, which was to be exhibited in the neigh- 
bourhood by 6000 Austrian and Hungarian troops : 
the scene of action was, for obvious reasons, kept a 
profound secret except from a chosen few, so that to 
all inquiries as to where we should direct our steps, 
the only answer we could obtain was f* chi sa ?" 
(who knows?) The cannonading, however, commen- 
ced about eleven o'clock, and then no further in- 
quiries were necessary. We set out accordingly, 
and after proceeding about a couple of miles in that 
direction, where the firing was loudest and most 
frequent, we soon found ourselves entangled among 
the retreating squadrons of the already vanquished 
party. Their retreat was conducted along two high 
roads, running parallel with each other, and they 
kept up an irregular fire against the advanced par- 



122 SHAM FIGHT. 

ties of the victors. However, a sham fight, make 
what you will of it, is but sham ; and the exhibition 
altogether was very ludicrous. The retreating troops 
kept in no order at all ; the officers, many of them at 
least, seemed chiefly occupied with consuming such 
provisions as they had been able to carry in their 
pockets, having no idea of extending the imitation of 
a battle to any of its privations : while the soldiers 
seemed very much left to their own devices ; each 
man loading and firing when and where he pleased, 
keeping up however to their instructions, which were, 
that they should make as much noise as they could. 
Between the advancing and retreating squadrons a 
dense crowd of gazers was soon collected, in which 
we were speedily involved ; and spite of the folly of 
the whole thing, I could not help thinking how dif- 
ferent our situation would have been had the parties 
been in earnest, for the firing was kept up without 
intermission. Now and then a squadron of horse ■ 
charging up the road caused a little temporary con- 
fusion ; or a company of the Imperial Guard labour- 
ing through a ploughed field, their uniform all soiled 
— not with gore — but mud, created a roar of laugh- 
ter among the lookers-on. It must be confessed the 
country was very ill adapted for the display of mi- 
litary evolutions : rows of closely planted trees in 
full foliage, dividing the fields from one another, 



BRIDGE OF LODI. 123 

made it utterly impossible for the eye to penetrate 
more than a quarter of a mile in any direction ; 
wide ditches prevented the operations of the caval- 
ry, and as a matter of necessity allthe grand move- 
ments, (if any such there were, for all seemed to 
my inexperienced eye to be nothing but disorder) 
were confined to the high road. The business of 
the day was concluded by a triumphal entry of the 
whole into the city, which was very well conducted, 
and was altogether an imposing sight. 

We left Milan early on the morning of the 23d, in 
a thick fog, which however cleared away before we 
reached Lodi, where we breakfasted. While there we 
walked to see the bridge over the Adda, memorable as 
the scene of a fierce and bloody combat between the 
French and Austrian armies in 1796, when the for- 
mer were commanded by general Bonaparte in per- 
son. Thrice, the French were repulsed and the day 
was all but lost to them, when a last and determined 
charge carried the bridge, and the Austrians retreat- 
ed in good order to Crema. In returning to our 
inn we were conducted to one of the principal ware- 
houses of Parmesan cheese : where we saw in one 
single room about four thousand pounds' worth. 
This cheese is not usually sold for foreign or domes- 
tic use until it is two years old; and in order to 



124 PIACENZA PARMA. 

keep it moist during this interval, it is continually 
anointed with a very fine nut oil which is procured 
from Dalmatia. The best Parmesan cheese is made 
in the neighbourhood of Lodi, where the meadows 
are peculiarly rich. — The following day we passed 
through Piacenza, the ancient Placentia ; it stands 
pleasantly enough on the banks of the Po, and con- 
tains some fine buildings, which being chiefly con- 
structed of brick, it wants that lightness and gran- 
deur which most of the large Italian towns present, 
at least in their public edifices. — On the 25th, we 
stopped at Parma, in order that we might visit the 
rich gallery of pictures belonging to this little go- 
vernment. The chefd'ceuvres of Correggio which it 
contains, under the titles of the Madonna di S. Gi- 
ro!o?no, and the Madonna della Scudella, are so 
well known, and are so accurately described else- 
where, that I need not descend to particulars. The 
countenance of the Madonna, in the first, approaches 
more to the H beau ideal" of a seraphic being, than 
any thing I ever saw, and the Infant Jesus seems ac- 
tually starting from the canvass. Correggio is called, 
and justly, the prince of colourists and the creator 
of his own style, for he had never seen the pictures 
of RafFael and Doraenichino, when he composed and 
painted his own. When I passed through Parma 



PARMA. 125 

on a former occasion, there was a fine bust of Cor- 
reggio in the gallery, with the following inscription 
beneath it : 

Degli occhj e Tizian 
Delle menti e Sanzio incanto ; 
Questi del cor, Lombardo 
Apelle, a vanto. 

While Titian enchants the eyes, 
And Raffael the mind, 
This, the Apelles of Lombardy, 
Captivates the heart. 

this for some cause or other has been removed, 
Many of the churches of Parma are rich in frescos 
by Correggio, and others of his day, but they are in 
general so badly lighted, that many of them are 
scarcely discernible, without the aid of a ladder, while 
others are nearly destroyed by the damp. — The old 
court theatre, built on occasion of the nuptials of one 
of the Farnese family, sovereigns of the country in 
those days, is the largest in Italy, and is justly admired 
for the elegance of its proportions. It was hastily run 
up, of bad and perishable materials, and it is now in 
such a wretched condition that it is almost dange- 
rous to enter it. Being detained a long time at 
Castel Franco, the frontier of the Pope's territories, 
it was late when we reached Bologna, on the 26th; 



126 BOLOGNA. 

and as we were under the necessity of continuing 
our journey the next day, we had no opportunity of 
visiting any of the interesting objects which this 
noble city contains. But I was pleased, in leaving 
it on the following morning, to observe the great 
improvement that had been effected in it, since I 
was last there, in 1820. The streets being narrow 
and the houses very lofty, it was then as dark and 
gloomy a town as you can well imagine : but since 
that time, the houses have all been painted of light 
and cheerful colours ; the change is much for the 
better, and reflects no small credit on the discern- 
ment of the Cardinal Legate who designed it : and 
were the same plan adopted in some of the dark streets 
of our own overgrown metropolis, there can be no 
doubt it would have the effect of dispelling much of 
that sombre gloom which is so much complained of. 
Crossing the Appennines between Bologna and Flo- 
rence must always be an irksome and tedious busi- 
ness : but as ill luck would have it, thick fog and 
drizzling rain accompanied us during the whole of 
the first day. We did not reach the miserable inn 
at Pietra Mala until long after dark, and as the beds 
were any thing but inviting, we set out at ten o'clock 
at night, under the guidance of a peasant, who bore 
a lantern before us, in search of an extraordinary 
natural phenomenon about a mile and a half distant 



NATURAL PHENOMENON. J 27 

from the village. Half an hour brought us to the 
verge of a hill, whence, the object of our search was 
distinctly visible : a fire, issuing from the bowels of 
the earth, and illuminating with its vivid blaze, the 
whole expanse of atmosphere around it, to a consi- 
derable distance. We waded up to the knees almost 
in mud and mire, occasioned by two days heavy 
rain, before we got close enough to examine it more 
minutely. The space of ground occupied by the 
flame is a circle of twelve yards in circumference, 
covered with loose stones, and being perfectly level 
with the surface about it. The flame as it issues 
from the ground is of a light blue colour, which be- 
comes paler as it ascends. The smell that accom- 
panies it, is precisely that which proceeds from a 
common lime kiln. Naturalists have been much at 
a loss to account for this phenomenon ; many set it 
down as the remains of a former volcano ; but the 
total absence of sulphureous odours seems to do away 
with this supposition. May it not be occasioned by 
the escape of some species of gas from the earth, 
which ignites on coming in contact with the at- 
mospheric air ? And is not this supposition con- 
firmed by the circumstance that during rain the 
flame is much more considerable than during the 
prevalence of dry weather ? These are questions, 
which I leave to wiser heads than my own to 



128 ARRIVAL AT FLORENCE. 

determine. When we rose the following morn- 
ing, a strong wind from the westward was fast 
driving before it the fog which had annoyed us 
so much on our ascent to Pietra Mala ; and be- 
fore we had advanced far on our road to Florence, 
the sun shone forth in all his glory, and we had a 
delightful day for descending into the Val d' Arno. 
The first view we caught of it was extremely inter- 
esting; the domes of Florence were distinguishable 
in the distance, while all the country, for miles 
round, thickly studded with villas, appeared like one 
vast suburb. It was cheering to look down on this 
animated scene, and to contemplate the wealth (for- 
mer wealth) and grandeur of the illustrious Florence, 
thus indicated in the richness of its environs. It 
was dark when we alighted at Featherstonehaugh's 
hotel, near the Piazza clella Trinita. — We had every 
reason to be pleased with our journey : though late 
in the season, we had delightful weather for cross- 
ing the Alps ; and were only inconvenienced by rain 
two days out of fourteen. Our vetturino procured 
us the best of what the inns (and many of them were 
poor enough) could afford, and did all in his power 
to contribute to our comfort. We met with no ac- 
cidents, and our journey was accomplished in the 
exact number of days agreed upon. 



LETTER XVIII. 

FLORENCE — POPULAR TRADITION CONCERNING ITS SITE 

FOSSILE REMAINS CHAPEL OF SAN LORENZO 

STATUES NATIONAL GALLERY -PITTI PALACES- 
ENGLISH RESIDENTS. 

Florence, November, 1826. 

I am not vain enough to suppose that a few days 
residence in this far-famed city can qualify me for 
giving you any thing like a concise description of its 
history, or of the numerous interesting objects it con- 
tains. A very faint outline is all that I can attempt. 
Of its origin, little more can be said than that it was 
colonized by the Romans in the time of Julius Cae- 
sar, and was then known under the name Plorentia. 
That its existence has been traced much farther back, 
I am well aware ; but all beyond the epoch I have 
mentioned, seems to be involved in so much obscuri- 
ty, as to deserve no place in the records of history. 
Popular tradition maintains that a lake once covered 
the ground on which Florence now stands, extending 
downwards to where the river Arno runs between two 
high rocks, called the Golfoline Rocks; a supposition 
confirmed by a fact recorded in one of the opuscula 
of Machiavelli, viz. the history of Castruccio Castrac- 



130 FLORENCE. 

cani, Prince of Lucca. This renowned warrior form- 
ed the design of making himself master of Florence, 
by throwing a dam across these str eights, and so 
causing the waters of the Arno to overflow it : a de- 
sign, which in all probability would have been exe- 
cuted, had not death put an early period to his ca- 
reer. If " what has been may be," is a maxim of ac- 
knowledged truth ; by a little inflection, we arrive at 
the conclusion, that if it be within the compass of 
human means to convert Florence and its neighbour- 
hood into a lake, there is no absurdity in supposing 
it to have been at one time in that condition, and 
that its waters were reduced, either by a gradual 
wearing away of the rocks which sustained them, or 
by the sudden opening of a cleft through the opera- 
tion of an earthquake. I may here mention as an 
extraordinary circumstance, that the fossile remains 
of elephants are found in greater abundance in the 
Val d'Arno than in any part of the world, unless it be 
in the Frozen Regions where they are discovered in 
most unaccountable numbers. — It was not till the 
time of the Medici that Florence attained its present 
size and splendour : indeed little has been done to 
it since their days ; and the only building now in 
the course of completion at all likely to add to its 
reputation as the Italian Athens, is the Mausoleum 
of the Medici family, attached to the church of San 



CHAPEL OF SAN LORENZO. 131 

Lorenzo : but even this was designed and commen- 
ced by one of that family more than two hundred 
years ago, and many more must still roll on before 
its actual completion. It is a splendid monument 
to the taste of its designer, Ferdinand the First : its 
form is octagonal, surmounted by a dome ; the walls 
are incrusted with slabs of the most precious marbles, 
so exquisitely polished, that each is a perfect mir- 
ror. The Sarcophagi, six of which are of Egyptian 
oriental granite, and designed by Michael Angelo 
Buonarotti, are erected to the memory of six of the 
Medicean family. Workmen are now employed in 
constructing the lantern which is to surmount the 
building, and when that is finished, all that remains 
to be done is to embellish the inside of the dome with 
some painting which will bear looking at, after the 
eye has surveyed the splendid decorations of the lower 
part of the structure ; and to lay down a correspond- 
ing pavement. And when all this is done the world 
will not contain so splendid a mausoleum. -The streets 
of Florence are narrow, and many of the finest palaces 
being built at a time when this city was a perpetual 
scene of domestic warfare, and each man's house was 
his castle, there is a gloomy air about it which dissap- 
points everyone at first. Of its squares, the Piazza del 
Gran Duca is by far the finest, containing as it does 
some of the most striking buildings of Florence, as 

i 2 



132 PICTURE GALLERY. 

the Palazzo Vecchio, with its lofty tower, consider- 
ed to be a chef cFceuvre in its way, and the Loggia, 
as it is called, ornamented with some of the best spe- 
cimens of the sculpture of the golden age of the arts. 
Besides a great number of others, subdio, it contains 
a fine equestrian statue of Cosimo the First, by John 
of Bologna, and a noble fountain ornamented with 
numerous bronze nymphs and Tritons, by the same 
hand. — The national gallery of Florence, constitutes 
one of its greatest attractions. Besides a vast number 
of pictures of the first class, it contains some of the 
best statues of antiquity ; of these the Wrestlers, Ni- 
obe and her youngest child, the young Apollo, the 
Arrotino, and the dancing Faun, stand most conspi- 
cuous, all doing homage, however, to the unrivalled 
Venus de Medicis, supposed to be the work of Prax- 
iteles. — The Pitti Palace, the ordinary residence of 
the Grand Duke, contains a noble collection of pic- . 
tures, to which strangers are admitted on certain days 
in every week, with a liberality which many of our 
own Grandees would do well to imitate,— as a private 
collection (if such it may be called) there is nothing 
in Italy which can compare with it, while the palace 
itself, in the splendour of its decorations, and the 
solid comfort which it displays throughout, is not 
equalled by any royal residence south of the Alps. 
Nor does the Grand Duke keep the enjoyment of 



CATHEDRAL— BAPTISTRY. 133 

these things to himself: once every week, and some- 
times oftener, his apartments are thrown open for the 
reception of company; when the disagrimens of court 
etiquette are in great measure dispensed with, and 
the royal host demeans himself towards his guests, 
more as a private nobleman than as an arbitrary mo- 
narch. — The cathedral is celebrated for its noble cupo- 
la ; the first which modern science produced on its re- 
storation from the darkness, which involved Italy and 
all Europe in its shadow, from the fourth to the four- 
teenth century. — The black and white marble with 
which the cathedral is cased externally, produces a 
very bad effect, and gives a shabby toy-like air to a 
building which, had it been cased with stone of a uni- 
form colour, might have compared with some of the 
proudest productions of that prolific age.-The square 
tower which stands alone by its side, is a most beauti- 
ful edifice, erected by an architect named Giotto, in the 
early part of the fourteenth century. — The baptistry 
is supposed to have been once a temple of Mars ; its 
bronze doors, formerly gilt, executed from designs 
of Arnolfo, are so beautiful, that Michael Angelo 
Buonarotti declared they were worthy of being the 
gates of paradise. 

Two noble quays, one on each side of the Arno, 
connected with each other by four bridges, of which 
that of the Trinita is supremely beautiful, afford an 



IM . ENGLISH RESIDENTS. 

admirable promenade during the winter : while the 
Cascine, or royal farms, combining the advantages of 
Kensington gardens and Hyde Park, are very much 
resorted to during spring, summer and autumn. 
The English have quite taken possession of Florence, 
not as birds of passage only, but as permanent resi- 
dents, there being many English families who have 
purchased houses here, and consider it as their 
home. It is one of the coldest places in Italy, and 
yet winter is the season in which our capricious 
countrymen chiefly reside here ; such is the influ- 
ence of fashion. It is one of the cheapest places in 
Italy, barring house-rent, which is extravagantly 
dear, though in this, it is not so bad as Rome. We 
shall leave it to-morrow for Pisa, where we intend 
to terminate our travels, and take up our abode for 
the winter. 



LETTER XIX. 

ROAD TO PISA BARGEMEN PISA TRADITIONS CON- 
CERNING IT WATER. 

Pisa, Dec. 1826. 

The road from Florence to Pisa follows, with 
some trifling deviations, the course of the Arno : 
and where it winds along between the rocks which 
once are supposed to have constituted a dam, keep- 
ing back its waters on the Val d'Arno, affords some 
picturesque points of view. The traffic carried on 
between Livorno and Florence by means of this 
river is very considerable, and numerous barges are 
constantly seen either rapidly floating down the 
current, which sometimes conveys them at the rate of 
five or six miles an hour ; or slowly making their way 
against it, heavily laden, and drawn along by from 
seven to ten, or a dozen men, whose athletic forms 
and steady measured pace, as they haul after them, 
against a strong current, several tons weight of mer- 
chandise, prove them to be well qualified for under- 
taking labour usually assigned to beasts of burden. 
These men have their stations along the banks of 



136 BARGEMEN. 

the river at intervals of about ten miles, where they 
relieve one another with all the regularity of a well 
conducted establishment for post horses. Their pay 
is very trifling, and their food consists almost entire- 
ly of macaroni, which is nothing but flour and wa- 
ter, prepared in a manner I shall have occasion to 
notice hereafter. Their clothing is barely enough 
to serve the purposes of decency, the only part of 
their bodies which they seem careful to protect from 
the weather being the head, which is usually covered 
with a thick red woollen night-cap. — We caught a 
view of Pisa, as we were descending a hill, about 
sixteen miles short of it, and even at that distance 
could clearly discern the leaning tower which al- 
ways appears to be falling. The drive from Florence 
occupied us only eight hours, the road and horses 
being very good. — A near view of Pisa does not 
possess the stranger with any very violent predilec- 
tions in its favour : there are scarcely any suburbs, 
and it is surrounded by a stone wall, which contains 
no openings to break its gloomy sameness, and is so 
lofty as to shut out from the sight all but the more 
elevated buildings which they encircle. Nor is the 
effect much improved on entering this once popu- 
lous city ; fine wide streets and stately palaces meet 
the eye in every direction, but there is a deficiency 
of human beings to animate it, which cannot fail to 



PISA. 137 

be felt. But on attaining the middle bridge, which 
commands a view of the Lungarno from one end of 
it to the other, all disagreeable impressions are ba- 
nished in a moment. The river, which is about one 
hundred and fifty paces wide, and flows along with 
great rapidity, traverses the city in the form of a 
crescent, very slightly curved ; and on its right bank 
extends, for more than a mile in length, a noble row 
of houses, counting amongst them the grand ducal re- 
sidence, besides many other palaces erected during 
the golden age of Pisa's existence : this is separated 
from the Arno by a low wall, and a broad street 
paved with flat stones, which affords an excellent 
promenade to the inhabitants. Being amongst the 
earliest arrivals, we had a good number of houses 
from which to make a selection, and finally fixed up- 
on one in the Via Santa Maria, which forms the 
chief communication between the cathedral and the 
principal part of the city. 

Historians are not agreed about the origin of this 
city : Strabo attributes it to a colony of Arcadians, 
who, landing upon the coast of Italy, soon after 
the termination of the Trojan war, fixed upon its 
site for their new residence and became its first 
founders. Others attribute to it an earlier date. 
It was one of the twelve great cities of Etruria, 
and did not lose any of its importance under 



138 PISA* 

the domination of the Romans, But whatever 
may have been its condition in those far off times, 
in more modern days it became the seat of a pow- 
erful republic, whose fleets asserted its authority 
in all parts of the Mediterranean, made it the 
terror of the pirates who even then covered the 
African coast, and enabled it to carry on, for a long 
succession of years, even handed contests with Ge- 
noa and Florence. Internal dissensions, by dead- 
ening its energies, and neutralizing its resources, at 
length laid it open to the attacks of its external ene- 
mies, it was subdued by the Florentines, and final- 
ly merged into that growing republic. Since then 
it has gradually declined in importance ; its trade is 
annihilated, and though the second city in Tuscany 
it does not now contain more than 17,000 inhabi- 
tants, its population once amounting to nine times 
that number. The destruction of its trade was a 
natural consequence of the rapid advances made in 
maritime science during the thirteenth, fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries. The building still remain- 
ing where its galleys used to layby in winter, is suf- 
ficiently indicative of the smallness of their burden, 
while the shallowness of the river formed an insur- 
mountable obstacle to their enlargement. Pisa is 
now six miles distant from the sea : while there is 
every reason for believing that it was once much 



PISA. 



139 



nearer. On the road between Pisa and Livorno 
is a church dedicated to St. Peter, built upon the 
spot where tradition affirms that apostle to have 
landed in Italy : This church is now three miles 
from the shore, and though the tradition, as far as 
it relates to the landing of the apostle, may be true 
or false, yet it may be taken as very strong evidence 
that the possibility of landing at that spot once ex- 
isted. The receding of the sea, (of which there are 
various indications along this coast of Italy and es- 
pecially at Pompeii, which was formerly a sea port 
and is now more than a mile from the shore) com- 
bined with the improvements in maritime science, 
and the impossibility of navigating the Arno with 
ships of heavy burden, would necessarily put an end 
to Pisa as a maritime power ; while the only chance 
they had of retaining their maritime superiority, 
viz. by establishing a port at the mouth of their ri- 
ver, was not taken advantage of, either for want of 
resources or want of energy. In its prosperous days 
it gave birth to one of those societies, (of which 
numbers were established in different parts of wes- 
tern Europe) whose pride and privilege it was to 
wage inveterate war against the Saracens, either in 
forwarding the conquest of, or extending protection 
to, the holy land. And the numerous banners which 



140 PISA. 

they won, almost the only reward of their hard 
earned victories, are preserved in the church belong- 
ing to their order, called Dei Cavallieri. These are 
fast mouldering to decay, and will ere long cease 
to remind the degenerate Pisans of the prowess of 
their ancestors. — A noble aqueduct raised on lofty 
arches (a standing monument of former greatness), 
stretches live miles across the country, to the foot 
of the Appennines ; and still continues to supply this 
city with most excellent water ; which is distributed 
in every direction and flows spontaneously from 
many elegant fountains, where the meanest inhabi- 
tant may freely supply himself with this great ne- 
cessary of life, " without money and without price." 
Indeed from one end of Italy to the other the same 
thing is to be remarked. Everywhere this precious 
element is treated with peculiar honour in the large 
cities, giving occasion to some of the most beautiful 
productious of genius and art ; while in the remo- 
test village, "the fountain" is never unadorned. 
Rome, Naples, Florence, Pisa, Leghorn and many 
more of the most considerable cities, have water 
conveyed to them from a great distance and at an 
enormous original expense. Yet, while it is but 
just that the rich should pay for the luxury of hav- 
ing it brought into their very chambers, the poor 



PISA. 141 

are liberally supplied for the trouble of walking a 
few paces ; at the farthest, to the corner of the 
street in which they live, where there is sure to be 
a small but never ceasing, stream, refreshing the 
atmosphere, and by various means promoting the 
health and comfort of thousands. 



LETTER XX. 

CATHEDRAL — LEANING TOWER — CAMPO SANTO. 

Pisa, Jan. 1827. 

The public buildings of Pisa may stand a compa- 
rison with those of many Italian cities far surpassing 
it in modern importance. Grouped together, with- 
out crowding upon each other, the cathedral, bap- 
tistry, campo santo, and leaning tower, form a most 
interesting and magnificent picture, of which the 
first occupies the centre ; the baptistry and leaning 
tower the two wings; and the campo santo the back- 
ground, filling up the openings which intervene be- 
tween the cathedral and the other two. The cathe- 
dral is a Gothic structure of the eleventh century ; 
it is built in the form of a Latin cross, whose inter- 
section is surmounted by a dome, the least admired 
. part of the whole, as being much too small for the 
length of the building. Externally it is cased in 
marble, of a yellowish hue, which accords much bet- 
ter with this style of architecture than the pure 
white of the Milan cathedral. Its eastern front is 



CATHEDRAL. 143 

very richly ornamented, and in accordance with the 
fondness for decorations which charectarised the age of 
its construction, is broken up into galleries one above 
the other, which contain some beautifully wrought 
columns, supposed to be of Egyptian workmanship ; 
but the three bronze doors constitute its chief orna- 
ment ; they represent the life of our Saviour and the 
Madonna in alto relievo, after the designs of John 
of Bologna : a rich border of foliage, intermixed with 
fruits of various descriptions, surrounds each of 
them, which, perhaps, is more beautifully executed 
than the historical compartments. In walking 
round the cathedral, I observed many large stones 
employed in its construction which contained por- 
tions of old Roman inscriptions ; among these the 
name of Hadrian frequently occurs ; some of them 
are laid end- ways, some wrong side upwards, indi- 
cating that they have been taken promiscuously 
from the ruins of some ancient Roman building or 
buildings in the vicinity, one of which is known, 
from the fragments of inscriptions which have been 
found, to have been the public bath of Pisa, erected in 
the time of that emperor. There are other inscriptions 
conveyed in characters resembling the Saxon, and 
which probably may be ascribed to some of the north- 
ern invaders of Italy. I would give much to be able to 
decipher them, as they would no doubt throw some 



144 CATHEDRAL. 

light on the history of those times, which are involved 
in so much obscurity. — The internal decorations are 
not at all inferior to the external ones. The aisles are 
separated from the main body by seventy-four lofty 
columns, some of oriental granite, and some of pre- 
cious marble : the high altar is splendidly ornament- 
ed : the numerous chapels contain some fine speci- 
mens of sculpture, while the sides of the building are 
hung with pictures illustrative of the life of their pa- 
tron, St. Ranieri : some of which possess great me- 
rit. The baptistry, though erected a century later 
than the cathedral, is far inferior to it in the style of 
its decorations. The figures of the apostles and pri- 
mitive saints, which stand in nitches round the base 
of the dome, would be a disgrace to the commonest 
stone-mason of the present day ; yet its form is ele- 
gant, being an octagon, and such of the ornaments 
as have been borrowed from the remains of antiqui- 
ty are judiciously placed. I must not, however, in- 
clude in the above censure the pulpit, which is a beau- 
tiful piece of workmanship, richly ornamented with 
bassi relievi in oriental alabaster and Parian mar- 
ble, by the hand of Nicolo Pisano, one of the best 
sculptors of his day. The font is no less worthy of 
observation. — I must now conduct you to the Cam- 
panile, or belfry, which stands about forty paces 
distant from the west end of the cathedral. This is 



LEANING TOWER. 145 

a round tower, 190 feet high; and consists of eight 
stories, each of which presents an open gallery a* 
domed with columns of various kinds, and amount- 
ing to 207 in number. The centre is a hollow cy- 
linder, and the ascent is constructed in the solid 
wall. Beautiful however, as is this singular tower, 
its most interesting feature is its great declination 
from the perpendicular, which is no less than four- 
teen feet. Many attempts have been made to ac- 
count for this circumstance; some have supposed 
that the architect designedly built it out of the per- 
pendicular, to gratify an idle fancy of his own. But 
independently of the absurdity of supposing that his 
employers would have consented to the gratification 
of such a whim, the actual state of the building al- 
together does away with the supposition. Had it 
been the design of the architect to construct the 
tower out of the perpendicular, he would still, in or- 
der to insure its standing, have laid his masonry 
horizontally. While the fact is, that the line of the 
masonry is perpendicular to the side of the building 
and is consequently inclined to the horizon, in the 
complement of the angle which constitutes the tow- 
er's declination from the perpendicular. It is also 
to be observed, that the declination is only uniform 
up to the seventh story or gallery, and that from 
thence to the top the building forms a backward 

K 



146 CAMPO SANTO. 

bend, which is very distinguishable to a person stand- 
ing in a particular spot not far from the baptistry. 
It therefore appears probable that when the seventh 
gallery was completed, the ground suddenly gave 
way on one side, and threw the building so much 
out of the perpendicular, as to threaten its total sub- 
version : when however it was found that the build- 
ing still stood, the architect conceived the bold de- 
sign of raising, upon the top, another gallery, which 
by leaning, to a small degree, in a contrary direc- 
tion, might contribute to bring back the centre of 
gravity of the whole nearer to its proper place. The 
result fully justified his supposition; and the tower, 
loaded as it is with six or eight large bells, which 
are daily rung, has withstood the influence of seven 
centuries, and appears likely, should the world conti- 
nue so long, to endure the action of as many more. 

But that in which the Pisans most pride 

themselves is their Campo Santo. This is an en- 
closure about eighty yards long by sixty wide, sur- 
rounded by a cloister, presenting to the area within 
a succession of beautiful light Gothic arches, richly 
ornamented. Its origin is ascribed to one of the 
archbishops of Pisa, who, early in the thirteenth 
century, being engaged in the crusades, brought 
from Mount Calvary several ship loads of earth ; had 
it deposited near the cathedral and designed it as a 



CAMPO SANTO. 1^7 

burial ground. The elegant cloister which surrounds 
it, was not constructed till near one hundred years 
from the time of the first importation of the sacred 
soil, and was then designed by Giovanni Pisano. 
The soil was stated to possess such extraordinary 
powers, as in the brief space of twenty four hours 
to convert the human body into its native dust. The 
cloisters contain a vast number of most interesting 
monuments of antiquity in the shape of sarcophagi, 
monumental inscriptions, &c : but they are chiefly 
visited on account of the paintings with which they 
are decorated, and which afford a practical history of 
the art from its infancy in the 14th, to its manhood 
in the the 15th century. On this account alone 
they would be extremely interesting : but they claim 
admiration on higher grounds than this, many of 
them possessing extraordinary merit. — The triumph 
of death, and the last judgment by Andrea Or- 
gagna, exhibit a fertility of genius which few paint- 
ings of any age can boast, though they cannot be 
said to convey any very convincing proofs of the 
painter's delicacy. But above all the rest, the works 
of Benozzo Gozzoli, styled by some il Raffael lo de- 
gli Antichi, are those which are held in the highest 
estimation.— -The last person interred in the Campo 
Santo, was professor Vacca of the university of 
Pisa ; whose skill as a surgical operator, and profi- 

k2 



148 CAMPO SANTO. 

cieney in the science of medicine have acquired him 
a very considerable reputation, from one end of Eu- 
rope to the other. It has ever been considered a 
sort of honorary burial ground; and if it be any 
satisfaction to a man to sleep among the illustrious 
dead, it may serve as an incitement to virtue and 
honourable distinction. . And if this be the result, 
the sums bestowed upon its construction and de- 
coration have not been thrown away. 



LETTER XXL 



CLIMATE INVALIDS. 



Pisa, Feb. 1827. 
We have not had much reason to be satisfied with 
the climate of Pisa ; but then I should remind you, 
that this has been, everywhere in Italy, a most un- 
favourable winter : the quantity of rain that has 
fallen, exceeds all precedent, though judging from 
what I hear, I should say that we have had less of it 
here than has fallen either south or north of us. But 
as consumptive patients are often sent here, and the 
climate Is said to be the best in Italy for such per- 
sons— I shall endeavour to give you as fair an ac- 
count of it as I can; and though I cannot speak of 
it professionally, I can yet give a detail of facts on 
which professional men may be able to pronounce, 
Pisa is situated in the midst of a vast plain, bound- 
ed on the north and east by the lofty ridges of the 
Appennines ; from the bases of which it is about four 
miles distant : to the south and the west it is en- 
tirely open. On all sides of it, at various distances 



150 CLIMATE. 

of two, three> or four miles, are extensive swamps, 
whose waters are in great measure stagnant, while 
it is traversed in its whole length by the Arno ; 
hence there prevails a considerable degree of humi- 
dity in the atmosphere ; which, in its turn, is pro- 
ductive of warmth ; by affording a more dense body 
for the absorption and retention of the sun's rays. 
This prevailing humidity is further much increased 
by the frequency with which the south-west wind, 
called the Sirocco, recurs. This, coming from the 
heated sands of Africa, not only helps to increase the 
evaporation, which at all times is going on, from the 
numerous swamps which surround Pisa; but by 
blowing against an insurmountable barrier of moun- 
tains, contributes to its accumulation. It is during 
such weather as this mild, damp, and cheered with 
occasional hot gleams of sunshine, that consumptive 
patients feel themselves better, and breathe with 
greater facility. On the contrary, during the pre- 
valence of clear, and what is usually styled, bracing 
weather, accompanied with dry winds from the 
mountains, which carry away the exhalations as they 
are formed, consumptive patients relapse, breathe with 
difficulty, and become depressed in spirits. Our own 
island is much calumniated for the frequent and ra- 
pid changes of climate to which it is subject, but I 
think I am borne out by facts in asserting that the 



CLIMATE. 151 

changes at Pisa are almost as frequent, though per- 
haps they are not so violent, as the extremes of heat and 
cold are not here so far asunder ; yet I have known 
it blow a sirocco in the morning, with the thermome- 
ter at 55° Fahrenheit, and the day terminate with 
frost. These changes are very trying to persons in 
robust health ; how much more so must they be to 
persons whose lungs are sensible of the least varia- 
tion in the state of the atmosphere which they 
breathe. Add to this, that the houses at Pisa (and 
the remark is equally applicable to all parts of Italy) 
are ill calculated for keeping out the cold ; and you 
will agree with me in thinking that the system of 
sending consumptive patients to pass the winter in 
Italy, is one of which the propriety may fairly be 
questioned. An Italian, when cold, instead of go- 
ing to warm himself at a fire, wraps an additional 
cloak round him, or at most admits into his room an 
additional pan of hot ashes, and thus sets the ele- 
ments at defiance. If he does admit a fire-place 
into his chamber ; he uses it as a ventilator, seldom 
allowing his wood to break out into a flame, unless 
out of complaisance to an English visitor, whose fond- 
ness for a cheerful blaze though he cannot compre- 
hend, he is willing to gratify. With this indifference 
to the charms of a blazing hearth, it is no wonder 
that an Italian but rarely involves himself in the ex- 



152 CLIMATE. 

pense of constructing one. Hence their scarcity, 
and the ill adaptation of Italian houses to the recep- 
tion of invalids. These I fear, are circumstances 
often left entirely out of the account, both by medi- 
cal men who recommend an Italian residence to their 
patients, and by friends who consent, often as a last 
resource, to a trial of the experiment. Such persons as 
are sent here with a view to the amelioration of their 
health, should be warned that much caution is abso- 
lutely necessary, both as regards the choice of a situa- 
tion and the taking of exercise. With respect to the 
first, the only part of Pisa calculated for the abode 
of an invalid, is the quay on the north side of the 
river, called the Lungarno. — The houses have the 
sun upon them nearly all day; and are thus not on- 
ly warmer, but much more free from damp, than 
those in other parts of the town. The next point is 
to fix upon one which has the most fire-places ; an 
invalid should both sit and sleep in rooms having a 
southern exposure : there being an amazing differ- 
ence in the temperature of rooms in the front and at 
the back of houses on the Lungarno, and such as no 
one in delicate health ought to encounter. Another 
reason for selecting rooms looking on the river, is that 
they command a cheerful prospect. The Lungarno 
being the principal, I may almost say only, prome- 
nade within the walls of Pisa, it generally presents 



CLIMATE. 153 

a lively and animated scene at all hours of the day : 
the frequent passage of barges up and down the ri- 
ver is no mean addition to the picture, and in de- 
fault of all these, there is always the river itself to 
look at, which, although it cannot be called a pellu- 
cid stream, is generally, during the winter, high and 
rapid. Those invalids who are sufficiently well to 
take out-of-door exercise, cannot be too cautious in 
availing themselves of the privilege. The inlets to 
the Lungarno from the rest of the town are very nu- 
merous, and all of them being in the direction of the 
mountains serve as so many channels for the admis- 
sion of the cold winds which proceed from them. 
An invalid, therefore, should never cross these, but 
confine his walk within any two of them ; taking 
care, never to expose himself to the influence of the 
mid-day sun. Observing these, and other cautions, 
equally applicable to every situation, there can be 
no doubt, that a consumptive patient, who is not 
sent out ere it be too late, will benefit by the cli- 
mate, communibus annis. -But the burial ground 

at Leghorn which I have just visited, bears melan- 
choly testimony to the fact, that numbers are sent 
out to Italy, when there is not the remotest prospect 
of their recovery. This is the greatest of cruelties 
that can be inflicted on a dying person ; and yet it 
it is a cruelty inflicted daily with a heedlessness 



154 CLIMATE. 

that is almost criminal. The inconveniences, fa- 
tigues and privations attending a continental jour- 
ney and residence, to which such persons are un- 
thinkingly exposed, only serve to bring them to an 
earlier and more painful death, than would have be- 
fallen them, had they continued to enjoy the com- 
forts of an English home and the affectionate care 
of relations interested in their recovery. 



LETTER XXII. 

SOCIETY CASCINE CAMELS SEA SHORE SHELLY S 

REMAINS ACIDULATED WATER LIVORNO MANU- 
FACTURE OF MACARONI. 

Pisa, 1827. 

My last letter having referred to Pisa, as a place 
calculated for the winter abode of invalids ; I must 
now say a few words on its capabilities as a resi- 
dence for persons to whom climate is not the only 
desideratum ; and as such I can speak of it in much 
more favourable terms ; but since, when it was pas- 
sing under review as a residence for invalids, as one 
ground for my unfavourable report, I was under the 
necessity of allowing the unusual badness of the 
winter ; so now, in speaking favourably of it as a 
place of general resort, I must not omit to observe, 
that so agreeable a union of our own countrymen 
can seldom again be expected as that which distin- 
guishes Pisa this year. Now, therefore, to my][task. 
In the first place, it is a matter of notoriety, that many 
who bring their families to Italy for thejpurposes 
of education, by sitting down amidst the gaieties 
and dissipation of Florence, Rome and Naples, not 



156 PISA. 

only often return without having accomplished their 
object, but not uncommonly with the painful con- 
viction forced upon them, of having been instru- 
mental in unsettling the principles of their children, 
and engrafting in their room habits of dissipation, 
which no after-discipline can remove. Now, while 
Pisa yields to none of those places in the abilities of 
its language and music masters, it does not, like 
them, afford an unceasing round of fancy balls and 
private theatricals, which distinguish some of the 
Italian capitals, and in which English mothers are 
too ready to permit their daughters to participate. 
At the same time, there is no lack of that kind of 
society which is both amusing and tributary to the 
purposes of education, consisting in social meetings, 
composed of English and Italians, from which the 
lovers of music and dancing seldom retire ungrati- 
fied ; while there is plenty of scope for such as wish 
to improve their acquaintance with the language and 
institutions of the country. The theatre, though 
small, is an exceedingly neat one, is elegantly fitted 
up, and, certainly this winter, has been supplied 
with a very good set of performers. The walks and 
drives in the neighbourhood are numerous, possess- 
ing each a peculiar interest. The first in rank, as 
well as distance, are the Cascine or Royal Farms, 
which comprise a vast extent of country, reaching 



CASCINE. 157 

down to the sea shore, and affording every variety 
of forest and domestic scenery. The whole carry- 
ing work of the farms is done by camels, of which 
the Grand Duke has no less than one hundred and 
forty; and it is surprising to see the enormous 
weights under which they move ; they are seldom 
loaded w T ith less than half a ton ; they kneel down 
to receive their burden, and, when they have con- 
veyed it to its destined place, kneel again to have it 
discharged, — making, at the same time, most fright- 
ful noises, opening their hideous mouths, grinding 
their teeth, and looking as if they would tear to 
pieces any one who should venture to approach 
them ; and yet I fancy all this is but the expression 
of their delight at being liberated from their bur- 
den. I was tempted to get on the back of one the 
other day, and rode some distance ; I cannot pretend 
to describe the animal's motion, but I felt a stiffness 
all over me for near a week afterwards. The fo- 
rests of the Cascine contain a great number of wild 
boars, not one of which, however, I have seen, ex- 
cept in the market ; there are also some herds of 
deer, which are so wild, that they are seldom met 
with : but they are chiefly stocked with a beautiful 
breed of horned cattle, which live quite at large in 
a state of natural wildness,— only emerging from 
the covert of the forest, when the herdsmen drive 



158 WALK TO THE SEA-SHORE. 

them out for the sake of selecting from their num- 
ber such as are fit for the market. We one day 
continued our rambles through the forest, until we 
arrived at the sea shore, where we were not allowed 
to continue long without being hailed by a Guarda 
Costa, and asked our business. We were astonished 
at such an interruption ; but, the man being very 
civil, we took advantage of the occasion to inquire 
the meaning of so much vigilance. So great is the 
dread of the plague entertained by the different 
Italian governments, that they mutually bind them- 
selves to keep up a regular succession of guards 
along that part of the coast belonging to each of 
them. Their business is to prevent the landing of 
any ship's or boat's crew which are not supplied 
with proper bills of health : to bury, and when that 
cannot easily be done, to burn, every thing which 
the sea casts on shore, in any way capable of com- 
municating the plague ; and so strict are they, that, 
should any person unfortunately pick up any such 
thing, be it even an old hat or an old shoe, he is in- 
continently clapped into quarantine. The burning 
of Bysshe Shelly's body, which was looked upon in 
England as such an extraordinary circumstance, 
and attributed to a thousand different causes, was 
simply in compliance with the police regulations of 
the country : his body was thrown on shore near 



shelly's EPITAPH. 169 

the mouth of the Arno, and, in obedience to esta- 
blished orders, ought to have been immediately- 
buried in the sand : but his friends, and Lord Byron 
in particular, wishing that his remains should be 
conveyed to a more seemly place of sepulture, were 
only permitted to accomplish this by consuming the 
body to ashes. This was accordingly done, and, being 
enclosed in an urn, they were deposited in the Eng- 
lish burial-ground at Rome, where their place is 
marked by a stone slab, containing the following 
extraordinary inscription : — 

Percy Bysshe Shelly, 

Cor Cordium, 

Natus iv. Aug, 1792 ; 

Obiit viii. Jul. 1822. 

" Nothing of him that doth fade, 
But doth suffer a sea change 
Into something rich and strange." 

Our walks are most frequently directed towards the 
mountains, it being something new for us to ramble 
among myrtles, tree heath, spike lavender, and 
groves of the arbutus ; with which, and a variety of 
other beautiful shrubs, they are thickly covered. 
Numerous picturesque villages succeed each other at 
their bases ; while nature seems to employ their in- 
ward parts as laboratories for the production of wa- 
ters possessed of a great variety of properties. The 



160 HOT BATHS, &C. 

hot springs of San Juliano are among the most ce- 
lebrated of Italy, and, during the spring months, 
are very much resorted to. There is a spacious 
boarding house erected by Government for the ac- 
commodation of visitors ; while those who wish for 
greater quietness and privacy than a boarding house 
usually affords, have plenty of small private houses 
to choose out of. There are also sources of acidu- 
lated water, some cold and some tepid ; one of these 
is a very favourite place of resort amongst us, and 
is at once an inducement and a reward for walking. 
It is strongly impregnated with carbonate of soda, 
and, on being mixed with a little white wine and 
sugar, effervesces, and forms an excellent beverage, 
little inferior to champagne in flavour, and far more 
beneficial in its effects. 

We are frequent visitors at Livorno (whose name 
we have barbarized into Leghorn), where we go to 
lay in supplies of colonial produce and money : both 
of these commodities being to be obtained on much 
more reasonable terms there than at Pisa. To re- 
deem it from the general character of sea-port 
towns, which too commonly consist of a great num- 
ber of houses crowded into the smallest possible 
space, it has a fine square, and is traversed in its 
whole length by a broad and handsome street; 
which, at exchange hours, exhibits a bustling and 



L1VORNO. 161 

animated scene, presenting such motley and varied 
groups of men as are to be met with nowhere but in 
the precincts of the Mediterranean. The Algerine 
is easily distinguished by his fiery eye, glistening 
from under long and shaggy eye -brows, which are 
overshadowed by the folds of a many-coloured 
turban, his prominent aquiline nose, and a slight 
curl of the upper lip — all indicative of great viva- 
city and courage. The Greek, with a less swarthy 
countenance, has the same fiery eye and vivacity of 
expression, — unclouded, however, by that air of 
fierceness which distinguishes the native of the 
coast of Barbary. The dress of the latter cannot 
fail to put the beholder in mind of some merciless 
corsair whom he has met with in the course of his 
reading ; generally consisting of a short jacket, ap- 
parently quilted, so as to be almost bullet proof, a 
belt garnished with pistols and a dirk, loose small 
clothes, and boots turning up at the toe : he is be- 
sides generally short in stature, and strong of limb 
in inverse proportion. Great richness of attire dis- 
tinguishes the merchants of Alexandria and the 
Levant, and all together, mixed as they are with 
the plainly and unclassically dressed Europeans, 
form a striking and interesting picture. Being a 
free port, Livorno is the centre of a very considera- 
ble trade, serving as an entrepot between England 



162 MACARONI. 

and the Levant : a great number of English mer- 
chants are established here, who complain of a great 
stagnation of business, chiefly attributable to the 
disturbed state of the Archipelago; and who are, in 
consequence, not very ardent well-wishers of the 
Greeks, whose reputation for piracy seems to be up- 
on a par with that of the Algerines. 

I went the other day to visit a fabrica of Maca- 
roni, which may well be styled the Italian's Staff of 
Life. I never could understand why in England we 
should be indebted to Italy for so useful and whole- 
some an article of food, and I confess myself to be 
still in the dark upon the subject. No one will de- 
ny that the finest wheat, if not grown in England, 
may always be obtained there : and it is idle to sup- 
pose that skill is wanting for its proper manufacture. 
The process is very simple, and though it is not easy 
to explain machinery without a diagram, I shall en- 
deavour to set it, to all intents and purposes, clear J y 
before you. I should first apprise you, that the finest 
flour is alone employed in the making of macaroni, 
*— this is mixed with as small a quantity of water as 
will suffice to convert it into paste: it thus becomes 
much too hard and consistent to be kneaded with the 
hand : and in order to its being done effectually, the 
following contrivance is resorted to. A wooden pole, 
about fourteen feet long, is fastened at one end to a 



MACARONI. 163 

post, driven into the ground, by a chain, so as to be 
lifted up and let down again with ease. Near the post 
to which this is fastened, stands a low platform on 
which the paste is disposed, and that part of the pole 
which is immediately over the platform, is prism- 
shaped, so that it comes in contact with the paste in 
the form of a thick wedge. At the other extremity of 
the pole are stationed two men whose employment is to 
keep moving it to all parts of the paste, and pressing 
it down with their united weight, which, at a distance 
of ten feet as they are from the paste-board, acts with 
very considerable effect. When the paste is sufficiently 
worked, it is transferred to a hollow cylinder, at the 
bottom of which is a cast iron plate perforated with 
holes : # over the paste is, what is called in dairy coun- 
tries, a follower^ or cylindrical piece of wood, exact- 
ly fitting the cylinder, and this is forced down upon 
the paste by means of a screw of great power, work- 
ed by two or more men. The paste then issues 
from beneath through the cast iron plate, and, as it 
issues very slowly, is partially baked by a fire sta- 
tioned for that purpose in a semicircular form round 
the space immediately below the cylinder. As 
it descends, it is gradually drawn away, and being 

* These are of different forms, and hence the variety of 

shapes in which macaroni appears. 

l2 



164 MACARONI. 

suspended across the room on rods, it becomes fit 
for use in a day or two. — Such is the simple pro- 
cess of making macaroni — a food wholesome and 
nutritious ; which forms the principal food of the 
lower orders of Italians, but which in England 
is only found upon the tables of the rich, owing 
to the enormous price at which it is sold : and 
which price is justified on the plea that it cannot be 
manufactured there. It is my firm belief that if 
any spirited individual would commence its manu- 
facture on an extensive scale, the Italian macaroni 
would soon cease to be an article of importation* 



LETTER XXIII. 

CHARACTER OF THE TUSCANS — UNIVERSITY OF PISA 

SOCIETY DELLA MISERICORDIA. 

Pisa, 1827. 

Of all the numerous states into which Italy is di- 
vided, there is not one which can boast so mild a 
government, or so contented and happy a population 
as Tuscany: not dragooned into quietness by the 
presence of an armed force, the Tuscans yield a wil- 
ling and cheerful obedience to a mild code of laws, 
and are warmly attached to the person of their so- 
vereign. This was strikingly illustrated a few years 
ago. When the Neapolitans and Piedmontese were 
revolting against their constituted governments, and, 
under pretext of reforming them, launched out into 
all the extravagancies and many of the horrors of 
anarchy, the great body of the Tuscans remained 
true to their allegiance. A conspiracy was said in- 
deed to exist among a set of infatuated young men, 
who were probably but too sensible of their insigni- 
ficance under the actual state of things ; but they 
were timely discovered, and with an exemplary 



166 TUSCANY. 

mildness were given to understand, that if they 
would quickly absent themselves from the country 
for a time, they would be recalled when the state of 
affairs in the rest of Italy would permit, and no far- 
ther notice be taken of their delinquencies. Indeed 
it must be confessed, that though contentment may 
be truly said to be the lot of the great mass of popu- 
lation in Tuscany, it is much too noble a term to be 
applied to the idle and listless apathy of the nobility 
and gentry. A system of despotic rule may, per- 
haps in the hands of a just and upright sovereign, 
be beneficial to the middle and lower orders of so- 
ciety ; but it reduces the aristocracy to the veriest 
nothingness — there is no employment which it con- 
sists with their dignity to accept, The learned pro- 
fessions are either beneath them, or their exercise is 
too laborious. Hence, their education is neglected, 
and to such a degree that it is no uncommon thing 
for a person styled noble, to be incapable of writing 
his own name. Who then can wonder that men for 
whose talents there is no rational or useful occupa- 
tion, should devote the early part of their life to pro- 
fligacy and dissipation, and become in their age on- 
ly remarkable for bigotry and imbecillity of charac- 
ter ? The education of the middle ranks is guaran- 
tee* by the two universities of Pisa and Siena, both 
of which enjoy a very high reputation : they are con- 



UNIVERSITIES. 167 

ducted on a very liberal plan : the professors, partly 
laymen and partly clerical, are paid by government, 
and have their pride gratified by the title of nobile. 
All persons, of whatever rank or country, are free- 
ly admitted to the lectures in every department; 
those only, whose intention it is to graduate, having 
to undergo the ordeal of an initiatory examination. 
Law and physic are the two professions most culti- 
vated here, and the latter especially has of late years 
had a stimulus communicated to it by the circum- 
stance of the medical chair being filled by so emi- 
nent a person as the late professor Vacca, whose 
learning and skill acquired him a very high reputa- 
tion. He died but a short time ago, and his remains 
are deposited on the north side of the Campo Santo. 
The University Library is well stored with books, 
which are chiefly devoted to professional learning. 
All persons are freely admitted to it on certain hours 
every day, and on application to the librarian receive 
any book they may require : this they may read or 
make extracts from, without however being permit- 
ted to take it away : silence is strictly and very ne- 
cessarily enjoined, as the library is dedicated to 
study, and not to the gratification of idle curiosity. 
Besides the University, Pisa contains several very 
excellent academies, where such as are not destined 
for any of the learned professions, may acquire a 



168 EDUCATION. 

very fair education, and on very moderate terms. 
In the country, parochial schools are very general : 
I one day met a boy returning from one of these 
with a book under his arm ; having an intelligent 
air about him I entered into conversation with him, 
and requested permission to look at his book ; it was, 
the decrees and proceedings of the council of Trent, 
in Latin, out of which he construed me two or three 
passages very correctly : he was a peasant's son, and 
amused us very much by the account he gave us of 
the pedagogue, who it appeared was much more 
fond of exercising the rod, than was pleasing to our 
informant, who seemed to be suffering under the 
recollection of some recent chastisement. 

There is one charitable institution common through- 
out Italy, but more popular in Tuscany than else- 
where, because patronized by the Grand Duke him- 
self : it is a species of friendly society, whose effects 
are so extensively beneficial, that it may well afford 
a pattern for imitation to any community whatever. 
In each town, a certain number of citizens, of all 
ranks and denominations of men, enrol themselves 
in a society called " della misericordia." In accor- 
dance with their title, the object of their union is the 
relief of distress, in whatever shape it may attack 
its victims : they clothe the naked, feed the hungry, 
visit the sick, and procure them medical aid, relieve 



SOCIETA DELLA MISERICORDIA. 169 

the unfortunate debtor, and when life is spent, they 
perform the last offices which are due to the remains 
of mortality, and convey to the grave, on their own 
shoulders, the bodies of those, whose relations cannot 
afford the expenses of a funeral. None are admitted 
as associated members but persons of good character: 
when once they become members all inequality of 
rank is done away with, and whether high or low, 
rich or poor, all in their turns perform the duties 
of the fraternity. Head-quarters are established at 
some church in a central part of the place, where 
there is a regular attendance of members in rotation, 
and when called out on duty, they are strictly en- 
joined by the rules of their order to go disguised, 
in order that they may not be instigated to works of 
charity by ostentation. Their disguise consists of a 
loose frock of black glazed cotton, which, covering 
the head, and having two holes to enable the wearer 
to see before him, reaches down to the feet. When 
accidents occur in any part of the city, some person 
proceeding to the nearest church, strikes one of the 
bells a certain number of times, which is always 
preconcerted and made known to the community by 
every means of publicity ; when immediately some 
of the " corps de garde," as they may well be called, 
issue from their head quarters, and hasten to the spot 
prepared for administering every relief, which, in the 



170 SOCIETA DELLA MISERICORDIA. 

circumstances of the case, is capable of being applied. 
When a poor person is ill, they are immediately in- 
formed of it by some of their emissaries, and if there 
be no relation to discharge the duties of a nurse, 
they constitute themselves personal attendants on 
the sick; and remain by their couch, administering 
not only medicines but food and every thing that is 
required, until the patient either recovers or dies ; 
and in the last case, convey their bodies to the grave. 
The funds of the society are partly supplied by an- 
nual subscription, and partly by voluntary contri- 
butions, which last are collected in the following 
manner. Once every fortnight fresh office-holders 
are appointed, and all placed under the immediate 
control of one man for the time being; who becomes 
responsible for the good conduct of his subordinates. 
Of these a certain portion are appointed as the daily 
guard at head-quarters, others are appointed as visit- 
ors, and others to go about soliciting the contributions 
of the charitably disposed. This last duty, like all 
the others incidental to the society, is performed 
with an energy, which nothing but a strong sense of 
being meritoriously engaged can give. Disguised in 
their hooded frocks, and holding in their hands a 
wooden box with the name of the society written on 
it in large characters, they traverse every street and 
lane, stand for a moment before every house, shake 



SOCIETA DELLA MISERICORDIA. 171 

the box to intimate their presence, and receive, with 
a bow of acknowledgment, the smallest sums. No 
well dressed person, walking in the street, escapes 
their notice, and few who are acquainted with the 
objects they have in view, would allow them to pass 
without contributing their mite. In the discharge 
of this duty they are not permitted to speak lest 
they should be recognised by their voices. Of this 
excellent institution, the Grand Duke himself is a 
member ; and though he might well be held exempt 
from its duties, it is well known that he has more 
than once put on his disguise, and gone about with 
the box. Such an example, in so high a quarter, 
cannot fail to be attended with beneficial results, and 
must contribute in some degree to rouse the higher 
orders from that unfeeling indifference to every thing 
but the gratification of their senses, which has so 
long been their distinguishing characteristic. 



LETTER XXIV. 

ROME SCHOLASTIC EXAMINATION SERMON. 

Pisa, March 20th 1827. 

We have just returned from a hasty visit to Rome ; 
conceiving that it would he an act of the grossest ir- 
reverence to leave Italy? without seeing the eternal ci- 
ty. With me it was the renewal of an old acquain- 
tance, and yet I contemplated the various wonders 
it contains with all the interest of a novice. Rome 
is so well known and has been so faithfully described 
by others, that (putting out of the question my in- 
capacity for the task) it would but be a waste of time 
to attempt its description. One Sunday, during our 
short visit, we were induced, by the expectation of 
hearing a very celebrated quaresimist, or lent preacher, 
to go to the Jesuits' church, which after St. Peter's 
and Santa Maria Maggiore, is one of the largest 
and most splendid in Rome. Being too early for 
the sermon, and finding that a vast number of boys, 
(not less than four hundred) were about to be cate- 
chised, we examined some of the pictures which 



JESUITS' CHURCH. 173 

adorn the church, and had not waited long when they 
entered, and were speedily ranged under the capa- 
cious dome in the form of a hollow square, the cen- 
tre of which was occupied by the teachers. The busi- 
ness of the day was opened by prayer, when this was 
terminated, the whole company rose and sung a 
hymn. The immense dome overhead seeming to 
harmonize their untutored voices, and return them 
to the body of the church converted into the softest 
melody. This ended, the catechisation began. And 
being desirous of knowing something of the style 
of instruction practised by members of this cele- 
brated order, I drew near to a class, consisting of 
boys, between thirteen and fifteen years of age. — 
Their instructor was examining them on the myste- 
ries of the eucharist : I can only recollect a few of 
the questions and answers ; and these were to the 
following effect : — 

After some preliminary questions, the priest ask- 
ed, 

(1.) Q. In receiving the wafer, what is it, in re- 
ality, which you receive ? 

A. The body of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

(2.) Q. By the body of our Lord do you under- 
stand the flesh only, or the flesh and the blood ? 

A. The flesh and the blood: because a body 
cannot consist of one of these substances alone. 



174 JESUITS CHURCH. 

(3.) Q. Receiving then in the form of a wafer, 
the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ, is it at all ne- 
cessary that you be a partaker of the wine, which is 
his blood ? 
• A. No. 

I could not but observe to myself what ridiculous 
sophistries the Roman Catholics axe driven to by 
their belief in what is called transubstantiation. 
" Because," say they, " our Lord is really and per- 
sonally present in the consecrated wafer, it is neces- 
sary that we prove the presence therein, not only of 
his flesh, but of his blood ;" and this is supposed 
to be satisfactorily done by the sagacious argument 
involved in the question marked N° (2.) Could 
they but be prevailed upon to see, in its sim- 
plest light, the significant imagery of our Lord, 
when he presented to his disciples the broken bread, 
as emblematical of his flesh, which was to be bruis- 
ed and pierced, and the wine as emblematical of his 
blood, which was to be shed for the remission of 
sins ; how would they despise the paltry sophisms 
to which, in the maintenance of this their favourite 
dogma, they are reduced ! — When the examinations 
were terminated, and some trifling rewards, such as 
prints of saints, were distributed to such as had been 
distinguished by the readiness of their answers, the 
boys filed out of church in good order ; while those 



Jesuits' church. 175 



who had been looking on pressed around a low desk, 
from whence the preacher was expected to hold 
forth. We had not been seated long when I ob- 
served a dark and gloomy visaged priest approach- 
ing the desk, along the side aisle of the church, 
where the light was feeble, and gave to his colour- 
less and morose countenance an expression the most 
sinister I ever beheld. He entered the desk, pray- 
ed in silence for a brief space, then rose from his 
knees, and, having seated himself, began to survey 
his congregation with eyes the keenest and most 
penetrating you can imagine : the wrinkles, which 
were gathered on his brow, gradually relaxed, his 
countenance expanded, a smile spread itself over his 
now handsome features, and in a voice extremely 
soft and musical, and with an expression the most 
engaging, he began a discourse, which will be strong- 
ly impressed on my memory to the latest hour of 
my existence. Confession of sins was the subject 
of his address; he represented it as one of the most 
beneficial portions of religious exercise, when du- 
ly performed: and, on the other hand, one of the 
most dangerous, if executed in a careless and incon- 
siderate manner. But I must attempt to give you 
some portions of his discourse, as nearly as I can, 
in his own words, while you must conceive them to 
be accompanied vvith the most admirable acting. 



176 SERMON. 

His commencement was very abrupt ; after giving out 
the text, which I did not hear, he began : — " What is 
it, my children, which the devil most dreads, as offer- 
ing the greatest hinderance to the establishment of 
his kingdom in your hearts ? Is it the frequent repe- 
tition of the sacrifice of mass ? No. Do the quaresi- 
mists (lent preachers) excite his apprehension ? No. 
They may preach humility and contrition ; but they 
cannot enforce obedience to their exhortations. . . 
..... I will tell you, my friends, what it 
is he most dreads : it is the confessional : he knows 
that a sincere and full confession of sins is followed 
by as full a pardon ; so that all his previous success 
is neutralized. But the devil is not easily discour- 
aged ; he knows that, although a sincere and full 
confession is rewarded by as ample a remission of 
sins; yet an insincere and partial one only tends to 
increase the condemnation of the offender. His ob- 
ject, then, is to promote insincerity and hypocrisy in 
those who approach the confessional : there he takes 
his stand : it is there he is ever on the watch: there 
he stands ;" (pointing, at the same time, to a con- 
fessional) " there he stands, ready to seize upon the 
first unhappy sinner who shall approach to unburthen 
himself of his sins." Many here involuntarily turned 
their eyes in the direction of the priest's finger, for 
a verification of what he said ; but, at all events, 



SERMON. 177 

his Satannic majesty was not visible ; though, since 
the preacher said so, he must undoubtedly have 
been there in propria persona, listening to the ac- 
count which was being given of his sagacity. Af- 
ter proceeding in this strain for some time, he went 
on to illustrate the danger of an insincere confes- 
sion, by the following narration : — " You have all 
" of you heard, no doubt, how elephants are taken 
" in the wilds of Africa : how these gigantic ani- 
" rnals, being unable to lie down, take their repose 
" at night, leaning against trees. Returning, as 
" they do, many successive nights to the same trees, 
" the hunters easily discover these in the day-time 
" by the marks which they leave behind ; and, 
" sawing them nearly through at the bottom, place 
" themselves in ambush somewhere in the vicinity, 
" and there wait the result. The poor, unsuspect- 
" ing beast returns at nightfall to his usual place of 
" rest, leans against the deceitful tree, and instant- 
" ly falls prostrate on the ground, from which 
" being unable to rise, he becomes an easy prey to 
" the wily hunters. So it is with you : the devil 
" is your hunter ; he sees you reposing implicitly 
" on the benefits which you are told to expect from 
" confession, and he resolves to undermine the rock 
" against which you rest. He first converts you 
"into hypocrites, and, persuading you that confes* 

M 



178 SERMON. 

" sion is a task of easy accomplishment, and re- 
" quiring no fore-thought or preparation, he brings 
" you, thus minded, to the confessional, where you 
" confess, perhaps, one sin in a hundred, excusing 
" or forgetting the rest : on this mockery of con- 
" fession you lean, as on that which is to give you 
" repose ; and leaning, you fall into the trap which 
" the devil has set for you, he all the time being 

" amused at your egregious folly 

" You make confession a mere matter of conveni- 
" ence. On rising in the morning, your first busi- 
" ness is to get shaved and hear the news of the town; 
" not being very busy perhaps, you then step into a 
f 8 coffee-house and read the Diario ; on loitering 
" homewards, the open door of a church attracts 
" your attention, and suddenly recollecting that it 
" is a long time since you confessed, and that your 
" sins are accumulating, you enter, and without 
" further preparation, forthwith, as you conceive, 
" disburthen yourself of your sins.— ^ I was one day 
" applied to by one of this sort for absolution, and 
" I will tell you how I treated him. A penitent, 
" with whom I was already engaged, kept him 
6i some time waiting, and his manner exhibited une- 
" quivocal signs of impatience. At length, however, 
" the coast was clear, and then, clothing himself in 
" all the externals of humility, he began : — " Father, 



SERMON. 179 

" I wish to confess." — Well, my son, replied I, 
" proceed, I am all attention. " Father, I have 
" been so wicked as to say Arch-priest." That 
" is very bad indeed ; but is that all ? " No, Fa- 
" ther, I ate meat last Friday without haviug a 
" dispensation." Any thing more ? " No, Father, I 
" cannot recollect that I have offended in any other 
" respect." Pray now tell me, my son, said I, 
" how long is it since you last confessed? " A 
" year," was the reply. A year ? That is indeed a 
" long time. Now tell me ; what had you for din- 
" ner last Sunday week ? " Indeed, Father,^I can- 
" not at this moment remember ; but if you will 

" give me a short time to " Come, no hesi- 

" tation ; tell me this instant of what your last 
" Sunday's dinner consisted? " Indeed, Father, I 
" have forgotten." Oh ! unworthy son of the 
" church that thou art, said I, go about thy busi- 
" ness ; expect no absolution from me : you come, 
" pretending to be able to recal all the delinquen- 
" cies of a year, and yet your memory is so frail, 
f that you cannot tell me what you ate for dinner 
" fourteen days ago ! Begone ! make room for 
" more devout Christians than thyself, and learn 
" that the confessional is not safely to be trifled 
" with."-He then expatiated on the ignorance which 

prevailed, especially among the young, in religious 

m2 



180 SERMON. 

matters. " Your parents," he said,^" spend a great 
" deal of money on what is called your education ; 
" but, to judge from what I see before me, a great 
" deal more on your dress. In this education you 
" are taught to act your part with elegance and 
" grace, in a waltz or a cotillion. Your dancing 
" master always finds you at home, and ready to 
" receive his instructions ; and so perhaps does your 
" music master. But when your religious instruct- 
66 or is announced, it is, " Pray excuse me for the 
" present ; I am very busy studying the last new 
" opera ;" or if you do condescend to sit down and 
" hear his instructions, it is to hear only and not to 
" understand. Hence your ignorance in all that 
" concerns your eternal welfare. Now I will make 
" bold to say, that there are many now before me, 
" who, if I were to ask them how many sacra- 
" ments there are, would be unable to answer me, 
" or perhaps would reply, " Three; faith, hope, and 
" charity." This stroke of humour was too much 
for the gravity of his audience, whose risible muscles 
had been more than once excited ; they one and all 
gave way to the occasion, and a slight hum of laugh- 
ter was distinctly heard proceeding from the as- 
sembled crowd. — In a similar strain of humour, ac- 
companied with the finest acting imaginable, the 
good Father held forth for more than an hour ; with 



SERMON. 181 

what advantage to his audience, I do not take upon 
me to say. But I should humbly conceive that they 
would retire to their homes, more amused than in- 
structed ; and would speak of Father as 

a most entertaining preacher, and the inventor of 
some as pretty stories about the devil and the con- 
fessional, as they had ever heard. 



LETTER XXV. 

JOURNEY FROM PISA TO GENOA. 

Genoa, April 8, 1827. 

We left our abode at Pisa on the third instant at 
noon, and arrived here, the day before yesterday, 
about seven in the evening, having had the finest 
possible weather for our journey. Our road, for the 
two first days, lay at the base of the Appennines, 
seldom more than four or five miles from the sea ; 
many beautiful points of view presented themselves 
to us as we journeyed along, especially on our ap- 
proaching Massa, which is very pleasantly situated 
on a rising ground, and commands a fine prospect of 
the surrounding country. From Massa to Sarzana 
we found the road most execrable : the latter place 
is a large and well built town, and contains a cathe- 
dral of some pretensions. Two of its chapels or 
oratories are ornamented with altar pieces of very 
ancient workmanship, which have been recovered 
from the ruins of the ancient city of Lunae, not far 
from Sarzana. The quarries, from whence the Car- 



LA SPEZZIA. 183 

rara marble is brought, were within sight of the 
road as we passed along : while every barn and sta- 
ble, having its window and door frames of marble, 
proved the material to be of very easy acquisition. 
Soon after traversing the Magra, a torrent impassa- 
ble after heavy rains, we arrived at La Spezzia ; 
beautifully situated at the bottom of the gulf whose 
name it bears. Having a narrow entrance, and be- 
ing inclosed with mountains, covered to their sum- 
mits with olive or chesnut groves, this gulf has all 
the appearance of an inland lake. We walked out 
at night to enjoy the sight of its tranquil bosom, 
lighted up by a splendid moon. The scene was one 
of enchantment ; the light of the moon was reflected 
from the smooth surface of the water as from a re- 
splendent mirror ; while such a universal stillness 
prevailed, that when an occasional ripple burst at 
our feet, it made us start. Numerous lights appear- 
ed moving about upon the water, which at first we 
were at a loss to account for ; but as some of them 
approached near where we stood, we found they pro- 
ceeded from persons engaged in fishing. These men, 
when the sea is tranquil, walk into the water, hav- 
ing in one hand a spear, and in the other a torch. 
The fish are attracted by the light, and, when near 
it, become so dazzled, that they dare not or cannot 



184 NEW ROAD. 

move ; and in that state are easily struck by the 
spear. One of the fishermen, while near us, struck 
his weapon into the water two or three times, 
each time with success. — From Spezzia to Genoa, 
the road is entirely new, having been open to the 
public only about four years. It was commenced 
under the auspices of the Princess Elise, one of 
Napoleon's sisters ; who, like her brother, was con- 
vinced that the first step towards improving a coun- 
try, is the establishment of ready means of commu- 
nication from one part of it to another. It is about 
TO miles long, and the expense of its construction is 
estimated at five francisconi, or something more 
than a pound sterling per Braccia* : and yet, notwith- 
standing this, it is traversed in its whole length 
without the payment of a single sous for tolls. The 
whole country is a succession of mountains, over 
whose ridges the road is carried with a very trifling 
acclivity; bridges of a solid and elegant construc- 
tion are thrown over chasms and torrents ; while 
galleries are cut in the solid rocks, whose perpendi- 
cularity renders it utterly impossible to construct a 
road on their sides. About five hours after leaving 
Spezzia, we stopped to rest our horses at a village, 
in the very heart of the mountains, called Borghetto. 

* 2 feet. 



NEW ROAD. 185 

It seems to have been constructed chiefly for the ac- 
commodation of travellers, since the only houses 
which aspire to be any thing more than mere cabins, 
are hotels, as they proudly boast themselves. — When 
we had advanced half way between this place and 
Sestri (where we slept), continually on the ascent, 
we burst suddenly, on attaining the summit of a high 
mountain, upon a fine view of the sea, which, with 
one or two trifling exceptions, we never lost sight of 
all the way to Genoa. Sestri is prettily situated on 
the sea shore, having a sweet bay before it, termi- 
nated at both extremities by high and irregular rocky 
mountains. From hence to Genoa, the drive is 
beautiful beyond the power of imagination to con- 
ceive. On the right hand are the mountains, cover- 
ed with pines, ilexes, olives, and chesnut trees, in 
descending gradation, and having here and there 
convents perched in the most prominent situations : 
on either side of the road are beautiful villas, wor- 
thy of Roman magnificence ; with gardens tastefully 
laid out and abounding in every variety of shrub 
and flower. The hedges by the road-side are com- 
posed of rows of aloes, many of them eight or ten 
feet high, and constituting with their sharp pointed 
leaves an impenetrable fence. While on the left is the 
Mediterranean sea, its shore lined with villages which 
almost unite with one another, and indented with 



186 NEW ROAD. 

an ever- varying succession of capes and bays. Some- 
times the road lies so near the shore, that in case of 
a violent storm from the south-west, the traveller 
could hardly expect to escape a ducking; again it rises 
to a great height, having the deep blue sea so imme- 
diately beneath it that you may throw stones into the 
water ; then following the course of ravines until a 
suitable place is found for crossing them, it winds 
among the mountains, and only affords occasional 
glimpses of the sea, rendered more beautiful by the 
foreground of chesnut and olive groves, through 
which it is seen. The first view of Genoa " the su- 
perb" is obtained on emerging from a noble gallery, 
which perforates a mountain, whose passage would 
otherwise be extremely difficult. At first sight it is 
impossible to distinguish the actual city from the 
crowd of villas which surround it on every side to 
the distance of many miles ; but the towers of its 
churches and the forest of masts, which appear at its 
lower extremity, at length decide its situation. From 
this place, which is fifteen miles from Genoa, we 
travelled through an almost uninterrupted succession 
of villas, so remarkable for the richness of their ex- 
ternal decorations, and the elegance of the terraced 
gardens which surround them, that long before we 
had reached the confines of the city, we were quite 



GENOA. 187 

ready to admit its right to the title of " superb ;" 
and were moreover persuaded that had we not tra- 
velled from Pisa to Genoa by the new road, we 
should have lost some of the grandest scenery which 
Italy can produce. 



LETTER XXVI. 

GENOA PALAZZO SERRA PROMENADE — CATHEDRAL 

— CHURCH OF CARIGNANO GENERAL REMARKS. 

Genoa, April 10, 1827. 

Our projected stay here being very short, and one 
of the days being Sunday, we were only able to visit 
a few of the many objects which claim the attention 
of travellers. The Palazzo Brignoli, or as it is call- 
ed, the Red Palace, was the first point to which we 
directed our steps. It contains some very fine paint- 
ings by Vandyke, which are chiefly portraits of the 
Brignoli family ; and some Guidos of tolerable me- 
rit ; but the best picture in the collection is by Ru- 
bens, representing himself and his mistress, with a 
faun looking over her shoulder ; immediately over it 
is written in large characters the word " Castitas," 
which, when referred to the picture in question, did 
not appear to be very easy of application, and 
puzzled us not a little ; but on looking upwards we 
found it had reference to a painting in the ceiling, 
which possessed very small claims on our observation. 
We next visited the Serra Palace, which contains 



PALAZZO SERRA. 189 

the most splendid saloon in Europe. Its shape is 
nearly that of a double cube : the gilding is at the 
same time extremely rich and beautifully elegant ; 
immense mirrors opposite to each other give it an 
appearance of interminable magnitude ; the chairs 
and sofas are covered with embroidered silk of 
Lyons exquisitely wrought, and when I tell you 
that these alone cost the enormous sum of 40,000 
francs, or about L.1600, sterling, you may from 
this one item in the account, form some concep- 
tion of the treasure which has been laid out in the 
embellishment of this splendid apartment. Conti- 
guous to this saloon, which, in richness of ornament, 
stands unrivalled, there are two smaller rooms, no 
less worthy of admiration. One of these especially 
is of the most beautiful proportions, and is construct- 
ed on a plan which I have seen nowhere else. It is 
a parallelogram intersected by an ellipse. 



On Sunday as we returned from attending divine 
service at the chapel belonging to the British fac- 



190 PROMENADE. 

tory, which is small, but fitted up with great neat- 
ness, on coming into the great street named Strada 
Balbi, we found all the beau monde of Genoa taking 
their mid-day promenade. The street was literally 
crowded with persons of both sexes ; among the men, 
the military of course were most conspicuous, and 
owing to the presence of the court at Genoa at that 
time were in considerable numbers ; but our atten- 
tion was chiefly attracted towards the fair sex, who 
constituted by far the most numerous part of the as- 
semblage. Their dresses were almost uniformly of 
the richest silk, and made after so simple and be- 
coming a fashion that they looked like a company of 
quakers. A square veil of white muslin constituted 
the general head-dress, which, just covering the back 
part of the head, and leaving exposed to view the 
dark ringlets of the wearers, fell gracefully over the 
shoulders. The sight was at once interesting and 
new, especially as regards Italy, for in most of her 
cities, as Milan, Florence, and Rome, a lady of qua- 
lity never leaves her house except in a carriage ; 
while here the use of carriages being confined to the 
three streets, Balbi, Nuova, and Nuovissima, they are 
by no means common, and thus the ladies of Genoa 
are more in the habit of using their feet, than those 
of any other city in Italy. I cannot say we left the 
company of promenaders with the recollection of 



CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO. 191 

much personal beauty impressed on our memories ; 
but such was the elegance and simplicity of their 
dress, and modesty of their gait, that it would be 
the height of injustice to say that personal charms 
were wanting. 

The metropolitan church of San Lorenzo is a fine 
Gothic structure, and though externally there is no- 
thing but the door- ways that merit particular notice, 
the interior is very rich in marbles and statues. One 
chapel on the left of the entrance, is extremely beau- 
tiful, and contains some statues of very considerable 
merit. The tabernacle, used as a receptacle for the 
holy sacrament, is a Grecian temple of the whitest 
marble, and though not in the least according with 
the character of the structure, of which it is an orna- 
ment; yet, separately considered, it is an elegant piece 
of architecture in miniature. The church is said to 
contain some good pictures, but the king being mo- 
mentarily expected to assist at the celebration of high 
mass, there was so great a crowd assembled that we 
could not get near them : indeed, independently of a 
lack of physical strength, our olfactory nerves were 
so violently assailed by the fumes of garlic, that we 
gladly availed ourselves of an opportunity to escape 
into the open air. — The church of Carignano, which 
we next visited, is nobly situated and commands a fine 
view of the town and harbour. It, as well as the bridge 



192 CHURCH OF CARIGNANO. 

which connects it with the rest of the city> and which 
spans a chasm of vast depth, was built at the sole ex- 
pense of the Sauli family. Its form is a Greek cross : 
the walls look bare, and there is an air of incomple- 
tion about the whole building which disappointed 
our expectations, raised as they were by the reports 
of guide books. It contains, however, some good 
pictures ; a St. Francis, by Guercino, and the mar- 
tyrdom of St. Blaize, by Carlo Maratta, are the best. 
On the whole it may be remarked of Genoa, that its 
churches are not what might be expected from its 
general character for magnificence. Many of them, 
the Annunciata for example, have been commenced 
on a grand scale ; but the funds having been ex- 
hausted before the design was completed, they are 
for the most part very shabby externally, presenting 
an unseemly mass of brick and mortar, which, as it 
was intended to be cased with marble, has not even 
received a common smoothing with the trowel. 

On the other hand, the private palaces, are, many 
of them, in a style of splendour and magnificence 
quite regal : so much so, indeed, that their posses- 
sors not being masters of one tithe of the wealth of 
those who built them, are either obliged to forsake 
them altogether, or inhabit but a few apartments, 
and those often the shabbiest of the whole. Genoa 
is too near Marseilles and Livorno, ever to become 



SARDINIAN MARINE. 193 

again a place of great trade. But the Sardinian go- 
vernment, resolved as it should seem, to make the 
most of this, their new acquisition, at the same time 
that they give it the name of a free port, load every 
article of foreign produce with such a weight of im- 
posts, that the trade carried on in its spacious har- 
bour is very trifling indeed. — The king of Sardinia 
maintains a more powerful naval armament than any 
other sovereign of Italy, unless it be the king of 
Naples. He has eight or nine sail, carrying from 
ten to sixty guns, and these are chiefly employed in 
convoying his traders to the Levant, or protecting 
them from the Algerine pirates.— An attempt was 
made two or three years ago to establish a commu- 
nication by steam packet, between Naples, Livor- 
no, Genoa and Marseilles. On its first appearance 
at Genoa, the seamen employed in the coasting trade, 
seeing the means of procuring a livelihood about to 
be taken from them, as they conceived, addressed a 
humble petition to the king that he would inter- 
fere in their behalf. His majesty having a species 
of undefined horror for every kind of improvement 
introduced from England, lest it should, as it were, 
communicate a love of freedom to his subjects, glad- 
ly availed himself of the seamen's petition, as a pre- 
text, and gave notice to the steam packet agents, 
that on every future occasion of the arrival of their 

N 



194 HOSPITALS. 

ship, it would be put under quarentine. This was 
a deadly blow to a plan which held out a prospect 
of much convenience to such travellers as are unable 
to endure the fatigues and disagremens of a land 
journey in Italy. It continued to run one year af- 
ter this, leaving Genoa out of its course, but diffi- 
culties were thrown in its way at Naples also, and 
it is now discontinued. The heights above Genoa 
are surmounted with batteries ; and the lines, when 
properly manned, are said to be capable of resisting 
the attack of thirty thousand men. — Genoa may just- 
ly be proud of its hospitals, constructed and endow- 
ed in her most glorious days. The Albergo dei Po- 
veri, built at the expense of one of the Brignoli fa- 
mily, is not equalled by any thing of the kind on the 
continent. It constitutes an asylum for one thousand 
persons, who have been reduced to want, either by 
age or misfortune. It is a noble monument to the 
memory of its founder, and one which entitles him 
to our highest admiration and respect. 



LETTER XXVII. 

JOURNEY FROM GENOA TO COMO GIOVEDI SANTO. 

Como, April 15, 1827. 

We left Genoa, at 8 o'clock on the morning of 
the 9th instant, for Milan. For the first four or five 
miles the road gradually ascends by the side of the 
Polcevera; it then leaves its companion, and by 
many circuitous windings attains the summit of the 
ridge of mountains which separate the Plains of 
Lombardy from the shores of the Mediterranean. 
It is singular that the Appennines, as they approach 
the more majestic Alps, assume a tamer and less ro- 
mantic character, as if cowering before the aspect of 
a superior. The old road of the Bochetta, wearisome 
because of its badness, and sometimes dangerous be- 
cause of its solitudes, has been abandoned for two 
or three years ; and when the new one has attained 
greater consistency, it will be perhaps as fine a road 
as any in Italy ; and certainly no country in Europe, 
England alone excepted, can boast such excellent 

high-ways. Even Mr. M'Adam himself would be 

n2 j 



196 ROAD TO MILAN. 

no worse for a diligent inspection of the Italian 
mode of road-making. There is great room in this 
country, whose surface is chiefly occupied by rugged 
mountains, for the display of science, and the engi- 
neers of Italy have earned for themselves a. reputa- 
tion, which ages yet to come will acknowledge. — 
The descent to the Plains on the east side of the 
Pass, is so trifling that I should conjecture their le- 
vel to be many hundred feet above that of Genoa. 
We slept the first night at a small town called 
Quarto, where we found a good inn. The next day 
brought us to Casteggio, where a conspiracy was 
formed against our repose by a most inveterate host 
of bugs. The following morning, after proceeding 
a few miles along a noble chaussi, lined on each side 
by a double row of trees, we found ourselves obliged 
to leave it, and take a cut through the fields for more 
than a league, the river Po having actually carried 
away a mile of the new road, and this for the second 
time. The fact is, the bed of the Po is constantly 
rising, and being, on occasion of great rains, exceed- 
ingly impetuous, it is perpetually making inroads on 
the plains, and especially about these parts, which 
it threatens entirely to lay waste in the course of a 
few years, if it be not previously confined to its bed 
by some powerful artificial means. This mischief is 
accomplished by the river, before it receives its tri- 



PAVIA. 197 

butanes, the Adda and Adige; so that the Tuscan 
saying does not hold good, which affirms 

II Po non sarebbe il Po 
Se l'Adda e P Adige 
Non vi giungerebbe il Co. 

Soon after crossing this river we came to the Pied- 
montese Dogana, where being " fuorescenti ,, we suf- 
fered no inconvenience. At the Austrian Custom- 
House all our trunks were taken down and examin- 
ed, but in such a business-like manner, and with so 
much civility that we were not disposed to complain, 
especially as there seemed to be no disposition on the 
part of the officers employed to accept a bribe. 

We passed through Pavia without stopping ; it is 
a spacious city, and the principal street presents a 
handsome display of shops, and a degree of bustle and 
activity which I was not led to expect from the cha- 
racter of desertion which is usually given of this 
once important and flourishing place. It was our 
intention to have devoted a couple of hours to a vi- 
sit to the celebrated Certosa near Pavia ; but indis- 
position and weariness said, nay. We saw it, how- 
ever, from the road, and a vast pile of building it ap- 
pears ; it was suppressed by Joseph the 2nd, empe- 
ror of Germany, who entertained very odd notions 
regarding the property of public bodies. This con- 



198 CERTOSA. 

vent was become immensely rich, therefore it was 
suppressed ; but the then members were permitted 
to remain during life, with a bare sufficiency an- 
nually doled out to them by a stingy government, in 
place of the luxuries which had been so long at their 
command. The unfortunate but gallant Francis the 
first, when taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia 
by the troops of the emperor Charles the fifth, was 
conveyed to this convent, where he slept his first 
sleep as a captive. 

We reached Milan at 6 p. m. on the third day af- 
ter our departure from Genoa, scorched with heat 
and half-choked with dust. And on the whole, 
though there is little to complain of, either as regards 
the road or the inns (always excepting the Post 
House at Casteggio), there can hardly be found a less 
interesting journey than the one from Genoa to Milan. 
—I lost no time in proceeding onward to Como, to 
secure a house for our summer residence on the 
beautiful lake of that name. The day I arrived 
there, being Giovedi Santo, I found it the scene of 
great festivity. The town was crowded to excess 
by people from great distances, some having come 
more than forty miles to participate in the religious 
ceremonies appointed for the day. Of these the an- 
nual benediction to be pronounced on the lake by 
the bishop seemed to be looked to with the liveliest 



GIOVEDI SANTO. 199 

interest. My business, however, calling me away 
from the town, I was not present at its celebration. 
But on returning to Como, about 7 o'clock in the 
evening, after a successful voyage, which had occu- 
pied a great part of the day, I enjoyed a scene 
which pleased me much more than I could have 
been by the pageantry of any Roman Catholic 
ceremony whatever. The evening was clear and 
so tranquil that not a ripple was visible on the 
surface of the water, on which, as on the most spot- 
less mirror, were reflected the mountains which en- 
close the lake almost on every side. On doubling 
a point of rock about a mile from Como, the whole 
bay, which lies expanded in a circular form before 
the town, appeared covered with boats : I supposed 
there might have been three or four hundred, but 
my boatmen assured me there were more near- 
ly a thousand. Most of those contained from 20 to 
30 and even 40 persons, who apparently, impressed 
with a pious satisfaction as to the efficacy of the 
blessing which had been pronounced on them and 
on their darling lake, were returning to their distant 
homes chaunting " Ave Maria ;" as they rowed 
slowly along ; while the whole scene was rendered 
doubly imposing by the unusual stillness of the 
evening, the beautiful aspect of nature, and the sober 



200 MILITARY MASS. 

cheerfulness which seemed to reign in every counte- 
nance. 

A month previous to this I had been present at 
the celebration of military mass in St. Peters at 
Rome, at which there assisted a full German regir 
ment, attended by its band, certainly the best I ever 
heard. And when under the lofty dome of that 
most splendid of all modern temples, the numerous 
and well appointed band played the German hymn, 
and to the martial melody of their wind instruments, 
the whole regiment to a single man, added the sup- 
pressed tones of their manly voices in the chauht, 
I thought that no music so truly sublime would 
ever again salute my ears. I was astonished and 
gratified beyond measure ; but the impression made 
on my mind by the voices of perhaps ten thousand 
persons, united in chaunting their evening prayer, 
softened, as their sound fell upon my ear, by the 
influence of the water, into the sweetest melody, 
and with no roof over their heads but that of the 
high Empyrean, already beginning to be spangled 
with stars, was productive of a higher sensation than 
that of gratification or astonishment ; of that pleas- 
ing calm and tranquillity of soul, which enables us 
to lift our thoughts above the flitting scene in which 
we are engaged, and raise them by ascending grada- 
tions " from nature, up to nature's God." 



LETTER XXVIII. 

LAKE OF COMO COMO— FONTE PLINIANA. 

Como, May, 1827. 

We took possession of our new abode, on Satur- 
day the 14th ult. It is delightfully situated on the 
eastern shore of the lake, about a hundred paces re- 
moved from the water, from which it is separated 
by a neat garden, well stocked with flowers, shrubs, 
and fruit-trees. Behind it rises, in a sort of amphi- 
theatre, a range of mountains prettily checkered with 
villages and country houses about the base, and thick- 
ly clothed with wood up to their very summits. In 
front we have the lake, a beautiful expanse of water 
about two miles broad, and terminating at the base 
of a mountain range, exceeding in height those of 
our own side, but not so richly wooded, and conse- 
quently not forming so interesting a feature in the 
landscape. Looking a little to the left, we have the 
house formerly occupied by our ill-guided Queen, and 
behind it an opening which discloses a distant view 



202 LAKE OF COMO. 

of the Alps, over a fore-ground richly wooded, and 
decorated with numerous churches and villages. — 
The lake extends in a direction nearly north and 
south ; the two principal rivers which feed it are the 
Adda and the Mera ; of which the latter falls into it 
at its northern extremity, and the former about 
ten miles short of it, after traversing a fertile valley 
twenty leagues in length. This, by its impetuosity 
and the immense quantity of soil which it hurries 
along with it, has so far encroached upon the lake, as 
to confine it within a very narrow compass, reducing 
it in fact to a level with itself, and giving it all the 
characteristics of a river ; which in fact forms only 
a communication between, what now may be called, 
the upper and lower lakes. The whole length of the 
lake, including the upper part of it, which is called 
the Lake of Chiavenna, is about forty-eight miles ; 
and in breadth it varies between one and a-half and 
five miles. About mid- way, between the two ex- 
tremes, it forms two separate branches ; one of which 
goes to Como and has no outlet ; the other to Lecco, 
and is in fact the channel of the Adda, which there 
again assumes its name and fluminal character, 
though purified from the mud and slime which dis- 
tinguishes it on its entrance into the lake. Nume- 
rous minor streams pay their contributions to the 
lake ; and after much rain it is curious to see the 



LAKE OF COMO. 203 

great quantity of cascades which stream down from 
the mountains on eveiy side. I have frequently- 
gone out into the middle of the lake on such occa- 
sions, and counted as many as seven or eight, all vy- 
ing with each other in the gracefulness with which 
they fall. — The beauties of this lake were not un- 
appreciated by the Romans. Pliny the Younger 
has immortalized them in his elegant epistles ; and 
among them he spent much of his time ; he had two 
villas on its borders which he distinguished by the 
titles, Tragoedia and Comcedia : their situation has 
never been exactly pointed out ; though the sombre 
grandeur of the scenery about the modern villa call- 
ed after him, Villa Pliniana, justifies one in the sup- 
position that there stood his Tragoedia ; antiquaries 
seem disposed to place the site of his Comcedia near- 
er to Como. Some of the villages bordering on the 
lake, have names strongly savouring of a Greek ori- 
gin : as Dorio (Doris), Coreno (Corinth), and Der- 
vio (Delphos). It is known that Julius Csesar sent 
hither a colony of five hundred Grecians ; and it is 
by no means improbable that these would give to 
their new abodes names which they had been accus- 
tomed to reverence ; as Virgil has described Helenus 
having his 



- parvam Trojam, simulataque magnis 



Pergama, et arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum," 



204? COMO. 

on the shores of Epirus. Como occupies the southern 
extremity of the lake, round which it extends in the 
form of a crescent, with two very considerable sub- 
urbs, the Borgo Sant Agostino on its right, and the 
Borgo di Vico on its left. The latter consists chiefly 
of splendid villas, belonging for the most part to 
wealthy Milanese families, who (and it shows their 
taste) are passionately fond of the lake. The view 
of the city, with its two wings when approached by 
water from the north, is very striking and beauti- 
ful. On the right presents itself a line of palaces 
extending little short of a mile in length ; in the 
centre, the town itself, ornamented with the lofty 
dome of the cathedral, and the towers of numerous 
other churches ; and on the left the Borgo Sant A- 
gostino ; while the back ground is filled up by well 
wooded hills, one of which, being a perfect cone, and 
having the ruins of an ancient fortress on its sum- 
mit, contributes very materially to the beauty of the 
picture. 

But I must introduce you to the many interesting 
objects which this lake affords, one by one as they 
came under our own notice. And first of all, the 
intermittent fountain at the Villa Pliniana : at the 
foot of the mountain, about 30 feet above the level 
of the lake, is a natural basin hollowed out of the 
rock, having only a narrow outlet : a stream of wa- 



FONTE PLINIANA. 205 

ter, beautifully clear, rushes out of the mountain 
and empties itself into this basin : for a certain 
length of time it flows so rapidly, that (the outlet be- 
ing small) the basin fills up to the brim and even over- 
flows its edges. Again the gush of water from the 
mountain gradually diminishes, and that in the bas- 
in as gradually acquires its lowest level. This alter- 
nation is repeated three times a day, though not with 
any very great regularity. — This spot was a favou- 
rite resort with the Younger Pliny, who exerted all 
the energies of his inquiring mind to find a solution 
of the singular phenomenon ; but in vain : He sug- 
gested, indeed, in a letter to a friend, two modes of 
solving the difficulty ; and all that later inquirers 
have done, has been to ring the changes on these 
suggestions, without being able to establish their 
justice, or to propose any new method of solution. 
One of his ways of accounting for it is this: he 
supposes the existence of a lake in the heart of the 
mountain; and he further supposes the surface of 
this lake to be agitated by wind to such a degree as 
to overflow its banks, and in this manner to feed 
the stream which empties itself into the outer basin. 
Now, supposing this overflowing to exceed in quan- 
tity that which is supplied to the lake by its hidden 
fountains, it would follow that, after a short time, 
the surface of the lake would be so much lowered 



206 FONTE PLINIANA. 

as entirely to cease overflowing, and so leave no- 
thing for the outer basin but what filters through 
the pores of the rock. On being again replenished, 
the overflowing would recommence, and so on. This 
solution rests upon too many suppositions, to be 
worthy of much credit ; though, of the existence of 
winds in the heart of the mountain, I had myself 
experimental proof : for, one day, as I was paddling 
my boat slowly along under an impending rock near 
the Pliniana, on passing a narrow cleft in it, not 
above a foot wide, I felt a sudden gush of wind 
proceeding from it, strong enough to turn the boat 
round ; while all without was perfectly tranquil. — 
About four miles farther north, and on the same 
(the eastern) side of the lake, is a fine cascade, 
called the Orrido di Nesso, and that because of the 
darkness and depth of the chasm in which it falls ; 
and which indeed constitutes its chief attraction : it 
is not visible from the lake ; and, in order to obtain 
a view of it, we were under the necessity of pene- 
trating some distance into the gloomy chasm : when, 
after being well drenched, and soiled with mud, we 
found ourselves at the foot of the fall, which is un- 
broken by any projecting rocks, and is, I should 
conjecture, about 180 feet in height. The season is 
not yet sufficiently advanced to induce us to visit 
the more distant parts of the lake, as the Tramez- 



CLIMATE. 207 

zina, as it is called, and the branch of Lecco : in- 
deed, we have had so much rain and cold, that we 
find fires very acceptable. Three weeks ago, on our 
road from Genoa to Milan, we were dying with 
heat. So much for the highly boasted regularity of 
the Italian climate ! 



LETTER XXIX. 

EXCURSION UP THE LAKE OF COMO FIUME LATTE — 

VILLA MELZI GROUP OF STATUES. 

Como, June, 1827. 

A few days ago, encouraged by an appearance 
of settled weather, we set out on an expedition to 
the upper parts of the lake. Our boat got under 
weigh at a quarter past three in the afternoon, and, 
with a light but steady breeze in our favour, we 
glided smoothly on to Bellaggio ; now coasting one 
shore, now the other ; admiring the ever-changing 
beauties of the scenery ; directing our attention one 
moment to some wild and craggy mountains, which 
seemed to frown upon us as we passed; the next, 
wholly taken up with some domestic scene, some 
" shady blest retreat," inviting us to a participation 
of the tranquillity which reigned around it. On 
passing the Point of Cavagnola, which is about eight 
miles distant from our house, there burst upon our 
view a most splendid prospect, extending more than 
20 miles up the lake, and taking in all the strongly 
contrasted beauties of sterile and productive nature 



TRAMEZZINA. 209 

At its northern limit rose the abrupt and barren 
crags of the Splugen and its subsidiaries; on either 
side less lofty, but not less picturesque, mountains 
enclosed the scene, while in front lay extended a 
graceful mixture of all that is most captivating in 
the storehouses of nature and of art : villages with 
their lofty and elegant church towers ; palaces with 
their hanging gardens, rising in unnumbered ter- 
races one above another ; and the more humble vil- 
lasj with their neat shady walks skirting the edge 
of the lake, which is here a noble expanse of water ; 
all these, harmonised and enriched by the mild ef- 
fulgence of a westering sun, constituted a picture, 
such as angels might dwell upon with rapture ! We 
landed at Bellaggio at 7 o'clock, and, not to lose so 
favourable an opportunity, immediately set out to 
the Serbelloni Villa, which crowns the promontory 
separating the two branches of Como and Lecco. 
The sun was not yet below the horizon when we 
reached the extreme point of the promontory ; where, 
standing on a platform, and having immediately be- 
low us, at a depth of four hundred feet, the smooth 
bosom of the lake glowing with the richest hues re- 
flected on it from the mountains on its eastern shore, 
on which the sun still shone, we enjoyed a noble 
view of the lake, up towards Chiavenna, and down 
towards Lecco, with all the subjacent villages, vil- 



210 '■ - LAKE OF COMO. 

las, and palaces, which adorn its shores ; while, from 
another point hard by, we were enabled to look 
down upon the Como branch; and were at a loss 
whether most to admire the richness of the latter, 
or the grandeur and magnificence which more espe- 
cially characterize the other two branches of the 
lake. — Taking advantage of the steam packet, which 
plies daily between Como and Domaso, which latter 
place is only twelve miles short of the northern extre- 
mity of the lake, we got on board as she passed Bel- 
laggio the next morning, and were thus enabled to 
take a nearer view of the mountains, which had filled 
so prominent a part of the picture of the preceding 
evening. The most striking and beautiful of these is 
the Monte Legnone ; which, while it is the loftiest of 
those which do not claim kindred with the mighty 
Alps, and is some T000 feet above the level of the 
lake, from its summit downwards, presents an in- 
clination so regular, that one might almost fancy it 
to be the work of art. The swampy plain of Co- 
lico, over which the Adda ranges at will, and thus 
renders it the abode of noxious vapours, from whose 
influence, during the heats of summer, the inhabit- 
ants of the neighbourhood are obliged to fly for 
safety to the mountains, lay extended in the distance 
before us, so low as scarcely to be distinguished 
from the lake, and surmounted by a turbid atmo- 



FIUME LATTE. 211 

sphere, big with the elements of disease. The rock 
and fort of Fuentes occupies a central position of 
the valley of the Adda, and, with its dismantled 
and deserted battlements, adds to the gloominess of 
the picture. — In the evening we visited the Fiume 
Latte — a torrent so called from its rushing impetu- 
ously down the side of the mountain in a milk-white 
foam. This singular stream has puzzled naturalists 
not less than the intermittent fountain at the Villa 
Pliniana. It issues from an orifice in the side of 
the mountain, so large, that a person, by stooping, 
may walk into it : it commences suddenly in the 
month of March, continues to increase until the 
arrival of the summer heats, then gradually de- 
creases till the latter end of November, when it en- 
tirely ceases to flow. Its commencement so early 
in the year as March forbids one to suppose it can 
proceed from the melting of the snow, for at that 
season the sun's power is but small. During the 
winter some persons have been stimulated by curi- 
osity to penetrate this natural tunnel, and proceeding 
onwards for two hours, have met with nothing in 
any way tending to solve the problem. — The Villa 
Melzi next claimed our attention; it is a superb 
mansion, erected very near the lake, and is approach- 
ed by a noble flight of steps from the water's edge. 
Instead of a succession of stately rooms, such as 

o 2 



212 VILLA MELZL 

Italian palaces generally contain, in the arrangement 
of this comfort seems to have been chiefly aimed at. 
The garden, however, which surrounds it, is its chief 
attraction. This is called an English garden, and, 
in the beautiful irregularity of its arrangement, does 
credit to the appellation ; while, in the rich variety 
of its flowers and shrubs, it surpasses any thing I 
ever saw in England. It enjoys quite an eastern 
climate; indeed so much so, that many recent im- 
portations from the Indian Archipelago, which it 
contains, look healthy and vigorous. A beautiful 
avenue of plane trees, interspersed with the elegant 
mimosa, conducts nearly half a mile along the wa- 
ter's edge, and affords a most luxurious evening 
promenade. In an opening in the centre is a beau- 
tiful group of statuary, representing Dante and Bea- 
trice, designed, though not executed, by Canova. 
The subject is taken from the Paradise of Dante.— 
While in the fifth heaven, under the guidance of 
the beatified Beatrice, he meets, amongst others, the 
spirit of Cacciaguida, one of his ancestors, who pre- 
dicts to him many of the misfortunes he was destin- 
ed to endure on his return to the world, and amongst 
them banishment from his native land, which he 
thus describes — 



VILLA MELZI. 213 

* Tu lascerai ogni cosa diletta 
Piu caramente : e questo e quello strale 
Che Parco dell'Esilio pria saetta. 
Tu proverui si come sa di sale 
Lo pane altrui, e com' e duro calle 
Lo scendere e'l salir per Paltrui scale. 

The poet, saddened by this prediction, contemplates 

it, 

f " Temprando '1 dolce con Pacerbo," 

with an expression of melancholy which does not 
escape the observation of his guide, who consoles 
him, saying, 

J" Muta pensier; pensa ch'io so no 
" Presso colui ch'ogni torto disgrava." 

Re-assured by these words, he turns himself : 

§ " Al amoroso suono, 
" Del suo conforto." 

This is the attitude in which the sculptor has repre- 

* Thou shalt forsake each thing loved most dearly : and this 
is the first shaft emitted from the bow of exile. Thou shalt ex- 
perience how the bread of others savours of salt, and how hard 
a path is the ascending and descending by other people's stairs. 

f Tempering the sweet with the bitter. 

J Change your meditation ; think that I am near him who 
lightens every wrong. 

§ To the lovely sound of his guardian spirit. 



214 VILLA SOMARIVA. 

sentecl him ; and well does he express the affection- 
ate reliance on his angel guide, which the words 
convey. 

On our return homewards, we paid a passing 
visit to the Somariva Palace. Besides the beautiful 
gardens which adorn this elegant villa, it contains 
within some good modern paintings and statues ; of 
the latter, the most worthy of observation are, a 
Palamedes by Canova, a good statue, and a Mars 
and Venus by Acquisti. But its richest ornament 
is, or rather will be (for it is not yet completed), 
the triumph of Alexander, represented in basso re- 
lievo, by Torwaldsen — now that Canova is no more, 
the first sculptor in the world. 



LETTER XXX. 

THE VICINITY OF THE LAKE OF COMO CONSIDERED AS A 

SUMMER RESIDENCE ITS CHARACTER — REPTILES 

RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS IGNORANCE OF THE LOWER 

ORDERS. 

Como, July 31, 1827. 

To genuine admirers of the beauties of nature, 
exhibited in every imaginable variety, the Lake of 
Como cannot fail to afford a most agreeable resi- 
dence during the summer. Removed from the busy 
hum of men, they may here contemplate the orna- 
mental works of the creation (if I may be allowed 
to use such an expression, in speaking of those parts 
of it which yield to none in productiveness and uti- 
lity) with ever -in creasing gratification. Nor is the 
scene which claims their admiration an inanimate 
one : the mountains' sides, though clothed with ches- 
nut trees, which, of all European trees, possess the 
most brilliant foliage, are yet chequered with numer- 
ous villages ; while many of the most commanding 
heights are crowned with churches. The lake itself 
ever presents a number of boats, either impelled 
slowly along by rowers, or rapidly gliding onwards 
under the influence of the breve or tivan — two winds 



216 LAKE OF COMO. 

which, in settled weather, return with the regular- 
ity of morning and evening : the former commenc- 
ing about ten in the morning, and blowing steadily 
from the south until about one o'clock; the latter 
about three, and blowing as steadily from the north 
until six or seven in the evening. On market days 
especially, the concourse of boats at Como is so con- 
siderable, that you can seldom look out upon the 
water without seeing from fifteen to five-and- twenty 
at the same time, working their way to or from the 
market. The climate, moreover, is free from that 
intenseness of heat which characterizes the rest of 
Italy, and the atmosphere, being daily agitated by 
the two winds just mentioned, never stagnates; so 
that, during the prevalence even of the greatest 
heat, you never feel that suffocating oppressiveness 
with which it is often attended hi more northern 
latitudes. — Having given you one side of the picture, 
it is but fair that I should now present to you the 
other. It must be confessed that we have an exces- 
sive proportion of rain. On referring to my diary, 
I find that, from the eighteenth of April to the end 
of that month, we had six days of rain successively : 
in May we had eleven days of heavy rain, and six 
with occasional showers : in June thirteen days on 
which rain fell ; while in the present month we have 
only had nine such days. We have seldom rain 



STORMS. 217 

without thunder, and that the loudest I ever heard: 
the very mountains seem to shake under its influ- 
ence. These storms sometimes approach with a 
grandeur, which it would require the poetic pen of 
Thomson to describe. Ploughing up the surface of 
the lake, which a moment before perhaps was as 
smooth as a sheet of glass, they advance with incon- 
ceivable rapidity; the thunder meantime rattling 
over head, and the winds bellowing and struggling 
with the opposing woods, seem as though they would 
tear them up by the roots and plunge them into the 
troubled waters beneath. Woe betide the unwary 
boatman who is overtaken by one of these hurricanes 
in the middle of the lake ; if he endeavour to force 
his boat against the tide he must inevitably sink, his 
only chance is to scud before the wind and make the 
shore as soon as he can, without considering where. 
About six weeks ago, I gave permission to my servant 
to take the children and nursemaid out upon the lake 
for a short time: the day was as fine as a summer's 
day can be : having been up the greater part of the 
preceding night, I threw myself on my bed and soon 
fell asleep; but in about an hour was awoke by the 
banging of doors, and the rushing noise of a furious 
storm. I got up immediately and ran down to the lake 
to see if my children were safe. Not a boat was to be 
seen, the waves were breaking furiously on the op- 



218 ALARM. 

posite shore, and I was convinced that a boat like 
mine could not live in such a sea. I inquired of 
the peasants who lived near if they had seen it; 
they replied, it had been observed about an hour 
before, going out, but they, none of them, could 
tell which way it had gone. To send in pursuit 
was therefore vain, and I was under the painful 
necessity of waiting in the most anxious suspense. 
By and by the lake resumed its tranquillity; one 
hour passed without bringing any intelligence ; ano- 
ther elapsed and increased my anxiety : the shades 
of evening closed in, and I gave up my children for 
lost. In the meantime boat after boat had passed, 
which had been compelled to take shelter during the 
storm ; at length we descried a boat slowly advanc- 
ing from the opposite side in the direction of my 
house, having another empty boat in tow : I watch- 
ed it with an intenseness of anxiety which I cannot 
describe : on its nearer approach, I perceived, to my 
unspeakable joy, that all was right, and need not 
add the rest. My Italian servant was so overcome, 
that he could hardly give me an account of what 
had happened. I gathered from him, however, that 
he had rowed the boat into the middle of the lake, 
and there being taken up by looking at the steam 
packet which was then passing, the gathering storm 
had escaped his notice ; and when he would have 



LAKE OF COMO. 219 

returned to our own shore he found it too late ; the 
hurricane had already taken possession of that part 
of the lake which intervened between them and our 
villa ; and he found there was nothing left for him 
but to take advantage of the wind and hasten to the 
opposite shore : there he fortunately arrived, got the 
nursemaid and children on shore, when a wave came, 
drove the boat upon a rock and filled her with wa- 
ter : a moment later and they must have been 
drowned ! the boat was so bruised that they could 
not venture to trust themselves to it although the 
storm had ceased, and the necessity of procuring 
another had occasioned the delay. 

The lake, though beautiful, is certainly treacherous, 
and the greatest caution and circumspection is ne- 
cessary to be exercised by those who trust them- 
selves on its bosom. This is perhaps one of the 
greatest inconveniences attending our situation, as 
we have only the alternative of going to Como, or 
anywhere else, by water or on foot. To me, indeed, 
either alternative is equally agreeable, but all are 
not fond of walking eight or ten miles, great part of 
which is very fatiguing ; though the scenery which 
he enjoys from the foot path, be such as would have 
enhanced the beauties of paradise. — Reptiles of va- 
rious descriptions are very numerous : especially 
near the water's edge, there is an abundance of 



220 REPTILES. 

snakes which spend great part of their time in the 
water ; among these I one day observed one having 
something very like fins on each side of its head, it 
was nearly black, but before I could get near enough 
to destroy it, it plunged into the water, and though I 
often returned to the same spot, I could never after- 
wards get a glimpse of it. Adders do not frequent 
the water, but chiefly the higher parts of the moun- 
tains : they are said to be very poisonous. Scorpions 
are so numerous that we occasionally found them in 
our beds ; however, I was assured by a Como phy- 
sician, that their sting is neither so painful nor so 
poisonous as that of a wasp. You will be apt to say 
all these circumstances militate sadly against my as- 
sertion, that the lake of Como affords even to the ad- 
mirer of nature, an agreeable summer residence. In 
reply, I have only to add, that I have already spent 
two summers on its shores, and were I ever to spend 
another summer south of the Alps it should be here. 
— The peasants of this country make a great show of 
religion ; processions are of very frequent occurrence, 
and are carried to an extent which would surprise 
you. Twice during our stay here the whole popula- 
tion of the village in which we live, have made the 
circuit of the parish lands ; headed by the priest and 
chaunting a Litany as they wound their way along 
the acclivities of the mountains. Annually, on the 



LANGUAGE. 221 

ninth Sunday after Trinity, # they go in procession 
to Como, which, at the least, is four miles distant, 
to ensure a supply of rain ; and this, it appears to me, 
whether they require it or not. Certainly this year 
those who joined in the procession, narrowly escaped 
a ducking,-The language spoken in this part of Italy, 
is a most barbarous Patois ; but the inhabitants throw 
into their conversation a degree of vivacity and sim- 
ple eloquence such as I have nowhere else observed ; 
and which must have excited astonishment in the 
minds of many who heard them examined, on occa- 
sion of the late Queen's trial in the House of Lords. 
I fell in with a peasant one day who had been sub- 
poenaed as a witness in her defence, and asked him, 
whether he was not a good deal alarmed on being in- 
troduced before that august assembly ? He replied, 
that at first the gentlemen, with their black gowns and 
capacious wigs, did excite in him a little uneasiness ; 
but in a lucky moment it came across his mind that 
they exactly resembled the masks which he was ac- 
customed to see annually at Como during the Car- 

* The first lesson appointed for morning service on this day 
in our church, and I believe also in the Roman Catholic, 
is the 18th chapter of the first book of Kings, which contains 
an account of the sending of rain after a three years' drought. 
May not the institution of this annual procession be in corres- 
pondence with this circumstance ? 



222 IGNORANCE OF THE COMASCHI. 

nival ; and then all fear forsook him, he felt him- 
self quite at home, and underwent an examination 
that continued six hours. 

Extreme ignorance pervades the lower orders, and 
with it extreme credulity. Theue is no miracle, 
however ill got up it may be, that is beyond their 
belief, as we had frequent opportunities of observ- 
ing : a small work, relating the apparition of a mi- 
raculous cross in France during the winter of 1826, 
published at Como, has a very extensive circulation ; 
and scarcely a year passes that the relics of San 
Firmo, do not perform some miraculous cure, which 
is eagerly swallowed by the multitude. Their fes- 
tivals are very numerous, and are often held in re- 
mote places, where there is a church or convent de- 
dicated to some particular saint. These festivals al- 
ways begin with the celebration of high mass, and 
end in drunkenness and fighting. Of this we had 
weekly experience : a low wine-house was establish- 
ed near us, and every Sunday evening presented a 
scene of beastly intoxication, to which it would be 
difficult to find a parallel at any country ale-house 
in England, even on the day of the village feast. — 
The quantity of wine they guzzle is quite surprising ; 
and being, as it is, very strong bodied, and only three 
halfpence a bottle, the wonder is, that instead of on- 
ly getting drunk, they do not kill themselves out- 
right. 



LETTER XXXI. 

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE MILANESE — CRIMINAL 
LAWS PROSCRIPTION THE LOWER ORDER OF ITA- 
LIANS A HARDY RACE RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE 

INSURRECTION. 

Como, Aug. 1827. 

The Milanese, (by which title I would be under- 
stood as meaning the Austrian subjects in the north 
of Italy), living under the dominion of a distant, 
and it may almost be said, of a foreign court, have 
much to complain of. All the most important 
offices of trust are filled by Germans : taxes are 
levied to an enormous amount, and the burden is 
doubly felt, as their produce is for the most part 
conveyed out of the country, instead of being again 
spent among the people who pay them. The pre- 
sence of an immense standing army, consisting al- 
most entirely of foreigners, and extending with its 
numerous ramifications to the remotest villages, 
cannot but be felt as a very galling evil. — There is 
no country in Europe so rich in its own productions 
as Lombardy. Besides the ordinary varieties of 
grain, it produces rice of a very fine quality, consi- 
dered to be superior to that which grows in Ameri- 



224> AGRICULTURE. 

ca. The growth of wine exceeds the home demand 
for it ; oil is not very abundant ; but the produce of 
the silk worm is that which most enriches the 
grower.* Three hundred per cent, on what is laid 
out, is no uncommon return : and what greatly en- 
hances the profit, is the circumstance, that it is ac- 
quired in the brief space of forty days : that being 
the whole time that the cultivation of the silk worm 
is attended with any trouble or expense. — The pro- 
duce of grain is great beyond all calculation": a crop 
of wheat, for example, is reaped by the middle of 
June, and is succeeded by a crop of maize, which is 
gathered in September. This latter constitutes the 
greatest part of the food on which the lower orders 
live ; and when well dressed, is not only palatable, 
but very good ; and in my humble opinion, superior 
to the much vaunted oatmeal porridge of Scotland. 
The meal is boiled, with water and a little salt, al- 
most to the consistency of bread, and eat, among 
the common people, alone ; but at the tables of the 
rich it is a common accompaniment to stewe v d birds, 
or any other rich dish. It is considered very whole- 
some and very nutritious. The cultivation of rice 
is banished to a certain distance from the metropo- 
lis, in consequence of its growing in water, which 

* See Appendix, No. III. 



CULTURE OF RICE. 225 

being stagnant and full of vegetable matter, is no 
doubt productive of noxious vapours, known in Italy 
by the general name of Mai Aria. The following is 
the process of cultivation adopted with regard to rice. 
The ground is prepared by the end of March ; water 
is let in upon it to the depth of three or four inches ; 
and the seedsman, wading through it, and sometimes 
sinking up to his knees in the soil, scatters the seed 
broad-cast. When the blade is just above the 
ground, the water is let off, and the field suffered to 
remain dry for a fortnight, during which time the 
blade will have gained perhaps three or four inches, 
or more ; the reason assigned for this is, that a spe - 
cies of worm is produced, and can only live in the 
water, which, on the appearance of the blade, begins 
to devour it, but expires when its native element is 
withdrawn. The water being again introduced, is 
indeed renewed from time to time, but is never 
wholly withdrawn until the harvest. The present 
Conte Borromeo, of whom I wrote to you in a for- 
mer letter, has lately been trying to produce rice on 
dry ground, but unhappily has not succeeded. — 
The criminal laws appear to be mild: at any rate 
they are not written in blood, for executions very 
rarely take place ; neither do galley slaves perpetu- 
ally meet the eye as in the rest of Italy. The ordi- 
nary punishment for criminal offences is imprison- 

p 



226 CRIMINAL PUNISHMENTS, 

ment, of greater or less duration according to the 
nature of the crime. Imprisonment for life is seldom 
iiominally inflicted on any criminal ; but that for fif- 
teen years, which is by no means uncommon, amounts 
to pretty nearly the same thing: for, owing to the pri- 
vations and hardships which the prisoners undergo, 
they seldom survive the period of confinement to 
which they are condemned. On a criminal being con- 
demned to any length of confinement, he is exposed 
for three successive days, in some public part of the 
town, on a species of scaffold, heavily ironed, and 
having suspended from his neck a board, on which is 
described the nature of his offence, and the punish- 
ment which is awarded him. I frequently saw crimi- 
nals undergoing this kind of moral torture ; and, al- 
though some of them displayed great indifference un- 
der its infliction, it manifestly created a great sensa- 
tion among the assembled spectators ; and I should 
have little doubt of its being productive of very bene- 
ficial effects on the morals of the public, attended as it 
is with much solemn display, and order being preserv- 
ed by the presence of an armed police, who would 
visit with immediate correction any tendency to such 
breaches of the peace as frequently occur in Eng- 
land when an offender is exposed in the stocks. — 
The conscription, as established by Napoleon, still 
exists ; but, where he forced thousands into the ranks 



ITALIAN SOLDIERS. 221 

of his army, the Emperor Francis only requires tens, 
so that it is not felt as a great grievance ; though 
the lot of an Austrian soldier is but very miserable, 
his pay amounting to three-halfpence of our money 
per day, in addition to which he receives only half 
a pound of bread. Such of the Milanese as are 
forced into the army are not suffered to remain in 
their own country ; but, immediately on being em- 
bodied, are marched away into the remote parts of 
the Germanic empire, where they have to undergo 
severe discipline, the rigours of a cold climate, and 
miserable fare. It is a great mistake to suppose 
that the lower orders of Italians are an effeminate 
race. It is well known that, of all the great army 
which was employed in Napoleon's expedition to 
Moscow, the Italians bore the severities of the cli- 
mate much the best. This may be accounted for 
by their great abstemiousness in eating, and (every- 
where except in the Milanese), I would also add, in 
drinking: in the coldest weather they live with their 
doors and windows open, and have a great horror of 
the luxury of a fire : but I am inclined to believe 
that their hardihood may in great measure be attri- 
buted to the robust health of the females, who, from 
their earliest youth, are habituated to the labours of 
the field. Whoever has been in the habit of walking 
from Pisa to the Grand Duke's farms, will be con - 

p2 



228 RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE. 

vinced that I do not exaggerate when I say. that few 
men in any country would be found to carry the 
immense burdens of wood, under which the Pisan 
women move with an alacrity quite astonishing. — 
Owing to the enormous duties laid on all foreign 
productions, and the vicinity of Switzerland, where 
scarcely any are exacted, the contraband trade in 
the neighbourhood of the Lake of Como is immense; 
and so it must continue to be, so long as the Austrian 
government keeps up the prohibitory system. French 
wines are especially excluded, and this with a view 
of encouraging improvement in the home manufac- 
ture. But the nobility of a certain Grade are per- 
mitted the privilege of importing for their own con- 
sumption : this privilege some of the neediest are 
easily induced, by the offer of a certain profit, to 
abuse; and the consequence is, that the inns and 
hotels are chiefly supplied through their means. 

The attempt at a revolution, which was made a 
few years ago, seems to have been as foolish and 
unadvised a scheme as ever was dreamt of. Three 
or four men, of desperate character and ruined for- 
tunes, set themselves to work, seduced a few of the 
young nobility into their plan, and supposed that all 
the rest would easily be accomplished. The offices 
of government were, you may be sure, early filled 
up : one was to hold the supreme authority, under 



INSURRECTION. 229 

the title of first consul ; the port-folios of the home 
and foreign departments were disposed of; and the 
expectant possessors of power were enjoying, in an- 
ticipation, the honours and riches which were to be 
heaped upon them ; when lo, and behold ! the bub- 
ble burst, a few of the craziest were dispatched to a 
fortress in Bohemia, where they are usually employ- 
ed in beating hemp ; some, who had been prudent 
enough to make their escape, were hung in effigy ; 
and the conspiracy became a subject of mockery and 
derision. From all I have seen during my residence 
in the Regno Lombardo Veneto, I should certainly 
be of opinion, that, though burdened with heavy 
taxes, and galled by the presence of a numerous 
army of foreigners, the Emperor of Austria has no 
subjects more willingly obedient than those of this 
kingdom. 



LETTER XXXII. 

DEPARTURE FROM BLEVIO— CHIAVENNA — POSTILIONS 

MONTE SPLUGEN THE RHINE VIA MALA RICH- 

ENAU — CO IRE, 

Coire, Aug. 20, 1827. 

We took leave of Como on the 16th inst. at one 
o'clock, having taken our places on board the Plinio 
steam-packet for Domaso. The weather was very 
unpleasant, it rained hard, and a gale of wind blow- 
ing in our teeth, delayed us an hour and a half, so 
that we did not reach our evening quarters till seven 
o'clock. Our carriage, which had gone in advance 
by the morning packet, instead of reaching Riva, 
the end of the lake, as we had hoped it would that 
evening, was still at Domaso when we landed. The 
night, however, cleared up, and, about nine o'clock, 
we were happy to see the boat, which conveyed it, 
get under way. This was, however, merely to 
make a show of listening to my earnest solicitations; 
for, setting out ourselves next morning at six o'clock, 
we had only proceeded four miles when we perceiv- 
ed the boat with the carriage safely moored, and no 
signs of any boatmen near. On seeing us, however, 



CHIAVENNA. 231 

they started again, and after many vexatious delays, 
and encountering a tremendous storm of thunder 
and rain, we landed at Riva at one o'clock, p. m., 
and our carriage about an hour afterwards. It was 
not till three, p. m., that we were fairly en route ; 
and, before proceeding far, we discovered that the 
end of the fore axletree of our carriage was carried 
away, and with it the linch-pin ; so that we were 
fain to halt at Chiavenna, instead of attaining the 
village of Isola, as we had intended. Chiavenna is 
a small and neat town, built at the junction of two 
valleys, and constituting, as its name imports, a key 
to them both. The scenery about it is of a most 
extraordinary description: — The mountains, either 
in consequence of the original looseness of their 
structure, or by the action of some convulsions of 
nature, have at various periods detached immense 
masses from their summits, which, covering the 
whole face of the country with their fragments, 
give it all the appearance of a world in ruins. Many 
of these shapeless masses seem as if they had been 
arrested in their downward course by the slightest 
causes, and, from their position, appear always 
threatening to resume it. In the year 1618, a vil- 
lage, about three miles distant from Chiavenna, was 
entirely buried by one of these terrific avalanches ; 
and, occuring as it did at noon, when almost all the 



232 CHIAVENNA. 

inhabitants were taking their mid-day repast, great 
numbers were destroyed ; indeed it is said, that, of 
the whole population, two only remained to mourn 
jthe loss of all that they possessed in the world, and 
that they only escaped by being accidentally absent 
from home. Excavations have recently been made 
on the spot, and many articles of furniture brought 
to light. On leaving Chiavenna, having the ascent 
of the Splugen before us, it was necessary to take 
two additional horses, which began by nearly upset- 
ting us ; not that the poor dumb beasts themselves 
were to blame : it was the clown of a rider that oc- 
casioned all the mischief, who really seemed to be- 
stride a horse for the first time : a crowd soon ga- 
thered round us, and as I strongly insisted on dis- 
pensing with the services of so inexperienced a pos- 
tillion, a smart looking fellow, from among the by- 
standers, stepped forth and volunteered to supply his 
place. We again set out, but with much the same 
success, as our new postillion seemed only to excel 
his predecessor in assurance. This may seem strange, 
but it is accounted for by the fact, that the road over 
the Splugen has only been open for carriages about 
three years, and the inhabitants of the valley having 
previously had no experience in equestrianism, have 
hardly yet had time to become acquainted with its 
mysteries. As soon as we were clear of the town, 



MONTE SPLUGEN. 233 

we began to ascend, under the grateful shade of 
chesnut trees, having on our left hand the Mera, a 
rapid and considerable stream, hastening to empty 
itself into the lake of Como. The road is very nar- 
row, not exceeding anywhere twenty feet : and the 
turnings (very frequent on account of the steepness 
of the ascent) are so sharp as to be exceedingly 
dangerous to an inexperienced driver. The scene* 
ry is wild : and though there are many beautiful 
spots, there is no such thing as a distant view 
during the whole ascent. There having fallen a 
great deal of rain the preceding day, we had the ad- 
vantage of seeing a magnificent waterfall about half 
way between Chiavenna and Isola. Its height could 
not have been short of 700 feet, and the body of 
water was very considerable. After leaving Isola 
behind us, so called from its being a pleasant fertile 
valley, in the midst of barren and inhospitable moun- 
tains, we traversed three immense galleries construct- 
ed of masonry for protecting the road against ava- 
lanches: one of these is about three quarters of a mile 
long, and the two others about three hundred yards. 
They are well built, and look as solid as the rocks on 
which they stand ; but they are not so high in the arch 
as they ought to be ; only twelve feet ; which is little 
enough for some of our English carriages, surmount- 



934 SPLUGEN. 

ed, as they often are, with lofty imperials. The as- 
cent from Chiavenna to the highest point of the pas- 
sage (6170 feet above the level of the sea), occupied 
us just nine hours, including an hour and a half 
spent at Isola, We suffered a good deal from the cold 
and damp ; and the officers at the Milanese Douane, 
on the frontier, assured us the weather was rarely 
much better than at that time. The descent is very 
regular; we performed it at a brisk trot, having only 
one wheel locked ; and passing through a romantic 
gorge, darkened by the shade of some vast pines 
which overhang it, we found ourselves almost, before 
we were aware of it, at the village of Splugen, which 
stands at its base. On entering this village, we 
crossed a small river by a wooden bridge, having a 
roof to protect its timbers from the effects of the 
weather. Our carriage, besides being high of itself, 
had some wooden hat-boxes at the top, and the roof 
of the bridge being very low, they came suddenly 
into contact, and the hat-boxes gave way with a tre- 
mendous crash, making us fear the whole building 
was coming down upon us. The carriage was stopped 
in time to prevent farther mischief, and we consider- 
ed ourselves fortunate in escaping at so little cost, 
as, had we been going at all quick, the carriage must 
have been forced off from the wheels. Such was 



VIA MALA. 235 

our introduction to the Rhine, the stream we were 
crossing being no less than the chief branch of 
that noble river, rising at no great distance from 
thence in the St. Gothard. At eight o'clock we 
reached the Crown Inn at Andeer, very much 
fatigued, for we had walked a great part of the 
way. — We started early the next morning, and fol- 
lowing the course of the Rhine, soon found our- 
selves involved in all the intricacies of the Via Mala, 
having high and perpendicular rocks towering on 
each side, to the height of a thousand feet over .our 
heads, while below us, at an equal, if not greater 
depth, rushed the impetuous waters of the Rhine, 
which we had seen a few minutes before flowing 
peaceably along through the valley. This defile, the 
most abounding in scenery terribly sublime of any I 
ever saw, is no where a stone's throw wide. The 
mountains on each side rise so perpendicularly from 
the very bed of the torrent, and resemble each other 
so much in structure and general appearance, that 
I cannot help believing that, at some remote period, 
they must have undergone a violent separation. 
The passage is three miles in length, and at each 
succeeding step presents something at once to excite 
admiration and awe. But the Patten Briich affords 
one of the most striking scenes that can be imagined. 
Leaning over the parapet of the bridge, you see, at a 



236 VIA MALA. 

depth of 600 feet below you, the Rhine contracted into 
a bed not more than five or six feet wide, and rushing 
along with an inconceivable impetuosity ; so perpen- 
dicular are the rocks on each side that, letting a stone 
fall out of your hand, it reaches the abyss beneath 
without meeting with any thing to impede its velo- 
city. On looking upwards a similar scene presents 
itself: the chasm over head exceeds but little in 
width that which is below, and being fringed at its 
edges with overhanging pines, admits to the travel- 
ler beneath a stripe of blue sky, not much broader 
than the noisy thread of water which rushes along 
beneath. On a high projecting rock, at the northern 
extremity of the gorge, stand the ruins of an ancient 
castle, erected, no doubt, either to defend this pas- 
sage, as affording access into Italy from the north, 
or to afford the means of plundering those who made 
use of it to convey the luxuries of Italy to people 
less favoured by nature and less advanced in art. 
The rock which sustains these ruins overhangs the 
road so frightfully, that, on passing under it, it is im- 
possible not to feel some dread lest it should take 
that opportunity of fulfilling its evident inclination 
to stop up the passage altogether. As we emerged 
from this never-to-be-forgotten defile, we had pre- 
sented to us a scene, of a character very different 
from that which had for some time engaged our at- 



THUS1S RICHENAU . 237 

tention. The mountains recede from one another, 
leaving between them a pretty fertile valley, with 
some neat villages scattered here and there on its 
surface. Ruined castles meet the eye in every di- 
rection : memorials of feudal power, but now only 
interesting as they add another feature to the scene. 
We soon entered another narrow defile, less terrific 
than the preceding one, but abounding in beautiful 
and romantic scenery ; on emerging from it we dis- 
covered, at a short distance on our right, the village 
of Thusis ; whose pleasant situation, the neatness of 
its houses, and above all its elegant church spire, 
made us regret that our road did not lay through it. 
At Richenau, a considerable village at the junction of 
le Rhin ulterieur and le Rhin citerieur, we passed over 
a fine wooden bridge, built I believe after the plan 
of that which once excited the astonishment of be- 
holders at SchafFhausen. In its construction it is 
exactly the reverse of a chain suspension bridge. It 
consists of two lofty arches, composed of four tiers 
of timber, cut into blocks about five or six feet long, 
and resting on each other ; these are firmly joined to- 
gether by cross beams, and between them is suspend- 
ed the road. It appears of great strength, nor did 
I perceive the least trembling motion as we crossed 
it, though our carriage was very heavy. — We reach- 



238 COIRE. 

ed this place (Coire) in six hours from the time we 
left Andeer, and have taken up our quarters at the 
Bouquetin, a very clean and good inn, where we 
met with good fare, great civility, and withal mode- 
rate charges. 



LETTER XXXIII. 

SARGANS SENNWALD— ALTSTCETTEN RHEINEK CON- 
STANCE WOOL^FSBURG MONASTERIES. 

SchafFhausen, Aug. 24, 1827. 

On the 20th, leaving Coire, the capital of the 
country of the Grisons, we continued to follow the 
course of the Rhine, along a pleasant fertile valley, 
hemmed in on either side by lofty pine-clad moun- 
tains, occasionally disclosing romantic dells, which 
made us wish for time and opportunity to investi- 
gate them. After four hours travelling along but 
an indifferent road we reached Sargans, a small vil- 
lage situated on the side of a mountain, separating 
the valley of the Rhine from that of the Seez, which 
conducts to the lake of Wallenstatt, about five miles 
to the west of it. Above the village stands an old 
chateau, formerly the residence of the bailiffs of 
the district, and now much neglected, whose tower 
commands a beautiful prospect, extending up and 
down the Rhine, and up towards Wallenstatt. The 
sun was just setting when I presented myself in the 
court-yard of the chateau, where seeing an aged 



240 SARGANS. 

matron sitting on the terrace, and apparently en- 
joying the tranquil scene which lay extended be- 
neath, I approached and requested admission to the 
interior of the building ; she looked up in my face, 
and without replying to my request, continued mut- 
tering something which I thought sounded like La- 
tin, and then observing that in one hand she held her 
rosary, and, concluding from that that she was en- 
gaged in her evening devotions, I bid her respectfully, 
" Guten abend," and addressed myself to a younger 
woman who just then appeared in the castle gate- 
way, and was conducted by her through its spaci- 
ous halls, up to the tower, where I continued some 
time gazing on the varied prospect beneath and 
around me. We found the inn (Le Cerf) clean 
and comfortable, and the people very obliging. — 
The next day, we took our noon-tide meal at a 
small village called Sennwald, situated at the foot 
of a lofty and very abrupt mountain, bounding the 
valley to the west. Its church has a pretty tapering 
spire, and looks altogether English : a hanging wood 
bounds the village on the east ; and in rambling to- 
wards it, now under the shade of richly laden apple 
trees, now through new made hay, which smelt 
sweeter than any oriental perfume, with the village 
spire peeping over a little rising ground, and a ge- 
neral stillness pervading the scene ; I could have fan- 



SENNWALD. 241 

cied myself in some sequestered vale in merry England. 
We maybe lost in wonder and astonishment on sur- 
veying the majestic grandeur of the Alpine regions : 
the romantic beauties of Italy may take all our 
senses captive ; but it is only on meeting with some 
quiet rural place, such as Sennwald and its sur- 
rounding woods, meadows, and orchards, that the 
attractions of our own sweet land present themselves 
with all their force to memory's eye. The little inn 
we stopped at was very humble in its pretensions ; 
but the old landlady was so respectable a dame, so 
clean withal, and so much taken with us, that, 
though our fare was simple, it seemed prepared with 
such an earnest desire to please, that we were almost 
induced to pronounce it the best dinner we had eat 
since the commencement of our journey. We had 
a most excellent bottle of Markgroevler — a wine very 
much resembling that of the Moselle, and grown 
in the Rheinthal, near its termination in the Lake 
of Constance. I am afraid our good hostess had 
some source of unhappiness which we could not 
penetrate ; for our little attentions to her seemed 
completely to win her affection, as if she had none 
else on whom to bestow it ; and, when we drove from 
the door, a tear stood in her eye as she w wished us 
well." We had not proceeded far, when the road 
turned suddenly to the west, and, as there appeared 

8 



242 SWISS HORSES. 

in front of us a perpendicular wall of rock, not less 
than two hundred feet high, we could not at first 
divine the meaning of it ; but, on turning an angle 
of rock, there opened before us a narrow cleft in 
the mountain, through which we passed, and so for 
a time took leave of the Rhine, which, for the two 
preceding days, had been our companion. It being 
the annual horse fair at Alstaetten (a small town 
which lay in our way), we had an opportunity of 
seeing the horses of the country to the best advan- 
tage : they are in general small, but exceedingly well 
put together, and, to use a jockey phrase, show a 
great deal of blood : if well trained, they would make 
admirable roadsters : and we had ocular demonstra- 
tion of their fitness for harness ; for the peasants 
were, at the hour we passed, returning to their homes 
in light waggons, most of them holding eight or ten 
persons, which their active poneys whirled on at a 
good rate along a road that would elsewhere be pro- 
nounced almost impassable. Indeed, so bad was it, 
that, though the distance from Sennwald was only 
about eighteen miles, it occupied us the best part of 
six hours ; and it was late when we arrived at the 
inn at Rheinek, whose filth and general want of 
comfort made us magnify still more the cleanliness 
and hospitality which marked the little inn at Senn- 
wald. — The whole of the road from Coire to this 



LAKE OF CONSTANCE. 243 

place is crowded with toll gates : they occur almost 
every hour, and the road being, at the same time* 
exceedingly bad, we felt we had reason to complain 
of the heavy demands which were made upon us. 
A little before arriving at Rheinek, we found our- 
selves once more on the banks of the Rhine, which, 
having received two very considerable additions 
since we took leave of it, is there a noble river ; its 
waters, however, are exceedingly foul, and convey 
a vast quantity of mud and rubbish into the Lake 
of Constance. We left Rheinek early the following 
morning (22d), and had not advanced far on our 
journey to Constance when we obtained a fine view 
of the lake of that name, which almost merits the 
title of an inland sea ; its width varies from eight to 
fifteen xniles ; its shores are covered with towns and 
villages ; numerous large boats were slowly moving 
over its smooth surface, having sails of great height 
and width to catch every breath of wind 2 it was a 
delightful scene, and one on which we dwelt with 
unmingled satisfaction. The land scenery is as beau- 
tiful in its way. The plain through which we tra- 
velled (slowly indeed and uncomfortably, for the 
road was execrable) was one continued orchard, the 
fruits of which we were" able to gather as we sat in 
the cabriolet of our carriage : gently sloping hills 
terminated our view on the left, covered with vine- 



244* CONSTANCE. 

yards ; while picturesque villages, and stately con- 
vents, each had their share in the composition of the 
picture. We reached Constance early enough to 
ramble about it for a couple of hours. It has all 
the marks of past importance and present insignifi- 
cance. Churches in ruins, and streets covered with 
grass, indicate a vast falling off in the population. 
The cathedral, a Gothic structure of great antiquity, 
has some fine points about it ; the cloisters especial- 
ly, of which the inner arches alone are standing, 
merit observation, from their lightness and elegance. 
And, though it cannot claim the merit of antiquity* 
I must confess to have much admired the iron grat- 
ing which separates the choir from the rest of the 
church. It represents, in admirable perspective, 
two Gothic cloisters. Constance is stained with the 
blood of the martyr John Huss, who, being brought 
under the promised and written protection of the 
Emperor, and then \vith his sanction condemned and 
executed, may be said to have been judicially mur- 
dered.* Its present forlorn and wretched appearance 
looks like a heaven-directed punishment for the out- 
rage of which it was the scene. The Rhine here 
issues from the lake, purified of all that disfigured 
it on its entrance at Rheinek ; and in a clear, blue, 

* See Appendix, No. II. 



WOLFSBERG. 245 

deep, and rapid stream, holds its majestic way on- 
wards to its goal. The bridge over the river is of 
wood ; and upon, or under it, are numerous mills 
for various purposes, turned by the water as it passes 
underneath. — During the early part of our next 
day's journey, we coasted the lower lake, which does 
not exceed a couple of miles in width. The country 
on our left was exceedingly rich and beautiful : the 
hills, rising almost immediately from the water's 
edge, are covered with vines, cultivated with the 
greatest care and neatness ; except where ornament- 
al woods, rustic bridges, and well kept paths, indi- 
cate the neighbourhood of some chateau or convent, 
of which there are many. Of these, the Chateau 
of Wolfsberg, lately fitted up as a boarding house, 
is veiy much frequented by the lovers of rural re- 
tirement and field sports. The terms are, for each 
person, 300 francs per month, or 2000* for the whole 
year ; this includes every expense ; and the visitors 
have the privilege of shooting over an extent of 
20,000 acres, great part of which is forest, abound- 
ing in every species of game. Some of the convents 
we passed are on a very great scale — monuments of 
wealth and power which are now scattered to the 
winds. The few religionists, who are suffered to re- 

* L. 80, Sterling. 



246 STEIN. 

main in them, have a scanty pittance doled out to 
them by their respective governments with an un- 
willing hand. — We rested our horses and ourselves 
for a short time at Stein, a neat village, situated on 
the banks of the Rhine, where it is very much re- 
duced in width, and in inverse proportion increased 
in impetuosity : it occupies the site of an ancient 
Roman station, of which some vestiges still remain. 
From this place to SchafFhausen, the road was all 
but impassable, and some beautiful peeps we got at 
the Rhine, winding its way between high and rocky 
banks, were scarcely sufficient to compensate for the 
tremendous shaking we underwent. We reached 
Schaff hausen yesterday at five o'clock. 



LETTER XXXIV. 

FALLS OF THE RHINE — REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY 

THEM — COSTUMES SOURCE OF THE DANUBE NOR- 

BERG ACHERN. 

We remained a day at Schaffhausen, not only to 
rest our bones, which for three successive days had 
undergone a most cruel jolting, but to have an op- 
portunity of visiting the Falls of the Rhine at Lauf- 
fen. The morning after our arrival accordingly we 
set out in search of them, declining the oft repeated 
offers of guidance which were tendered to us, with 
many assurances that, without assistance, we should 
never be able to find them. Following, as far as the 
nature of the ground would admit, the banks of the 
river, which here rushes along with tremendous "ra- 
pidity over its rocky and much inclined bed, we soon 
came within hearing of the thundering roar of the 
cataract, even when we were nearly two miles dis- 
tant from it; and on approaching nearer, though it 
was impossible to see the fall itself, a dense cloud of 
spray, soaring above it, indicated its situation with 
sufficient precision. At length, following a winding 



248 FALLS OF THE RHINE. 

path which led gradually upwards from the river, 
we entered the court-yard of the castle of Lauffen, 
which crowns a rocky eminence immediately over- 
looking the cataract. Left very much to ourselves, 
we rambled about the shrubbery which surrounds 
the castle, in search of the most favourable position 
from whence to catch a full view of that which was 
already so palpable to our ears, as actually to unfit 
those delicate organs from receiving any other sound. 
We were not long in finding a neat summer house, 
built on a projecting platform, and from its windows 
we had a most complete view of it. Sitting there 
at our ease, and free from the annoying explanations 
of a Cicerone, which, to be heard, must have been 
uttered with a voice of thunder, we gave ourselves 
wholly up to a silent contemplation of the agitated 
scene beneath. For some distance previous to shoot- 
ing over the edge of the precipice, the water flows 
in an almost unruffled stream, but with inconceiva- 
ble rapidity down the smooth surface of a very in- 
clined plane of rock. On reaching the edge, it ap- 
pears for an instant to pause, and then, with a tre- 
mendous bound, rushes into the abyss beneath, where 
is a scene of confusion which baffles description.— 
While contemplating this imposing picture, exhibited 
in all the circumstances of reality, my mind insen- 
sibly fell into the following train of reflection. Such 



FALLS OF THE RHINE. 249 

is the career of many a man who devotes himself to 
a life of dissipation. On first entering the path of 
vice, the stings of conscience occasionally ruffle the 
evenness of his course : when this inward monitor 
has ceased to strive with him, his life, for a brief 
space perhaps, assumes the appearance of a smooth 
and rapid current of unmixed pleasure. But vice 
has not yet established undivided authority over his 
mind, and in order to make him her sure victim, 
prepares for him some atrocious crime, some damn- 
ing outrage on the laws of society, by the commission 
of which he becomes her future slave. The smooth 
and unruffled nature of his course has deprived him 
of the habit of reflection ; yet for a moment he is 
horror-struck at the appalling step which he is in- 
cited to take ; he pauses, perhaps feels a momentary 
inclination to recede ; but it is too late, the difficul- 
ty of returning to the path of virtue appears to his 
bewildered imagination to be insurmountable ; de- 
spair takes possession of his mind, and he rushes fu- 
rious into the lowest depths of vice. — Though I 
could not help thus moralizing on the scene before 
me, I sat watching, with increasing admiration, its 
everchanging beauties. One moment the sun would 
shine full upon it and communicate a brilliant white- 
ness to the wide mass of foam, except where its re- 
flected rays glittered in all the various hues of the 



250 COSTUMES, 

rainbow; the next an envious cloud would inter- 
pose, when it appeared under a more gloomy, but 
not less imposing aspect. — The height of the Fall 
does not exceed 80 feet. But the immense body of 
water, the Rhine being here 300 feet broad, the ra- 
pidity with which it approaches the edge of the pre- 
cipice, the thundering noise with which it rushes 
downwards, the whiteness of the agitated flood on 
reaching its new bed, the fine old castle with its nu- 
merous turrets, and the beatling rock on which it 
stands, all conspire to make this one of the grandest 
spectacles in nature's power to bestow. 

The peasants of this part of Switzerland are much 
more decisively attached to their costumes than those 
of the more polished cantons of Geneva and the Pays 
de Vaud. As regards the men, it is amusing enough 
to see young and old wearing coats of the same cut, 
the waists being below their hips, and the lappets of 
their coats dangling about the calves of their legs ; 
an immense three-cornered hat crowns the picture. 
Coming upon a person from behind, it would be ut- 
terly impossible to tell whether he were seventeen or 
seventy, so exactly similar is their dress, and so much 
is the gait, even of the young, hampered and render- 
ed clumsy by enormous shoes, which can hardly 
weigh less than half a dozen pounds each. One has 
reason to be astonished that the men should continue 



COSTUMES. 251 

to pride themselves in wearing the same dresses as 
did their ancestors five centuries ago : but the wo- 
men are not without some excuse for adhering to 
old fashions : in the first place, their dresses are far 
from unbecoming ; and in the next, they are some- 
times so valuable as not to admit of being often 
changed. It is no uncommon thing to see a woman 
without shoes or stockings, and dressed in a coarse 
woollen petticoat, having upon her head a cap made 
chiefly of gold and silver cord, and whose original 
cost was not less than seven or eight pounds. Be- 
ing only worn on high days and holidays, they last 
for ever, and are handed down from generation to 
generation. — Although Schaffhausen is a frontier 
town, its only military defence, is an old castle sur- 
mounting a hill, which overlooks the town, and 
whose tower is evidently the work of the Romans. 

We left Schaffhausen on the 25th instant, at an 
early hour, and beginning immediately to ascend 
from the level of the river, continued to do so with 
little interruption for the first five leagues. When 
we had attained this elevation, a view of amazing 
extent commanded our attention. It reached one 
way to the lake of Constance, while in the opposite 
direction the horizon is everywhere bounded by the 
outskirts of the Black Forest. After having proceeded 
about six leagues from Schaffhausen, we entered the 



252 SOURCE OF THE DANUBE. 

Grand Duchy of Baden. At the frontier, no whisker- 
ed soldier presented himself at the door of our car- 
riage with the usual demand, " Votre passeport, Mon- 
sieur, s'il vous plait :" no odious douanier, with the 
insidious question, ? Kien pour la Douane ?" — The 
only circumstance which apprised us of our entrance 
into a new territory, was a toll-bar, and the peaceful 
collector, who levied his tax of about 12 francs, and 
gave us a ticket freeing us from the payment of 
tolls for sixty leagues. — We stopped to dine at Do- 
naueschingen, where the Prince Furstenberg has a 
noble residence : after descending from the carriage, 
we lost no time in going to pay our respects to the 
source of the Danube, which is immediately under 
the windows of his palace. On our way thither, as 
we walked along by the side of a pretty considerable 
stream, our attention was attracted by the surpris- 
ing number of trout which sported in its water. We 
could not fix our eyes on a single spot without see- 
ing several of them: they literally seemed to crowd 
upon each other, and were for the most part good 
sized fish, many weighing from two to three pounds. 
I am persuaded that with a landing net I could 
have taken as many as I pleased. We had not pro- 
ceeded on the banks of this stream more than two 
hundred yards, when we crossed a little rill of 
the clearest water, which ran into it. We conjee- 



SOURCE OF THE DANUBE. 253 

tured this to be the Danube, and tracing it upwards 
a short distance, we soon found ourselves beside a 
basin of the most transparent water lever saw: though 
it ceuld not be less than twelve or fourteen feet 
deep, we could distinguish the smallest object at 
the bottom. The water bubbles up by numerous 
apertures through a gravelly soil, and then, after 
dwelling for a brief space of time in the basin, 
(which is about twenty feet in diameter) hastens to 
swell the waters of the Black Sea. We diminished 
it by three tumblers full, and I never tasted water, 
so cool, and brisk, and good. — It was highly interest- 
ing thus to contemplate the source of one of the 
finest rivers in Europe, whose " dark rolling" waters 
contribute to the wealth and prosperity of so many 
kingdoms. In length it is little short of 400 leagues, 
and in its course it receives into its bosom many rivers 
of no inconsiderable rank: the most important of these 
are the Iser and the Inn, which convey to it the wa- 
ters of the country of the Grisons and the Tyrol : and 
the Save and Drave, with contributions from Carni- 
ola and Carinthia. It requires, however, an amazing re- 
spect for authorities, after all, to be persuaded that the 
little natural fountain in Prince Furstenberg's gar- 
den, is really the source of the Danube; as well might 
the source of the new river near Hertford be called 
the source of the Thames: for the little rill, supplied 



254j FILLINGEN. 

from this source, bears about the same proportion to 
the fishy stream into which it empties itself, as the 
new river does to the Thames. The fact is, the stream 
along whose banks we first walked, does not receive 
the title of Danube or Donau (for this latter is the 
name under which it is known in the country of its 
birth) until after it has received this trifling increase ; 
the real source being some leagues distant, at a place 
called St. George, in the Black Forest. We reached 
Fillengen, a large market-town, standing in a valley 
and surrounded by bleak hills, about seven in the 
evening, and all the best rooms of the inn being 
cleared of their furniture in the prospect of a grand 
ball which was to commence the following day at 
noon (! !) our host had some difficulty in providing 
us with beds. The first part of our journey the fol- 
lowing day (the 26th) continued to lay over a high 
cold country, possessing nothing to excite our admi- 
ration, and but little to attract our attention, save the 
occasional glimpses we obtained of the Black Forest. 
After proceeding about four leagues, we began to 
descend, to our great satisfaction, for even at this 
season of the year the cold of the high country we 
had been traversing was far from agreeable. — Be- 
side the road gurgled over opposing pebbles a little 
stream called the Kinzig, and descending rapidly, we 
soon found ourselves in a narrow and picturesque 



KINZIGTHAL. 255 

valley, named after the stream which waters it, the 
Kinzigthal. The scenery of this little valley is Swiss, 
but only in miniature ; the cottages, it is true, can- 
not vie with these of the Bernese Oberland, nor do 
any snow-clad mountains glitter in the distance ; yet, 
for all this, the scenery of the Kinzigthal would be 
pronounced beautiful by the most fastidious observ- 
er, even though he had not, like us, been travelling 
two days over a country as opposite to the picturesque 
as darkness is to light. We stopped to dine at Nor- 
berg, a small town, so wedged in between the hills 
as to have escaped our notice until we were actually 
upon it. One of our horses being here taken ill, we were 
obliged to hire two additional ones to assist in draw- 
ing us to Hausach, about six leagues, where we slept. 
—On the following (this) day we advanced twelve 
leagues to Buhl, having dined at Offenburg, a remark- 
ably neat town, containing some very fine houses, and 
a wide open street traversing it in its whole length. 
The valley, which at Norberg was so narrow as to be 
entirely occupied by that little town, expanded ra- 
pidly as we advanced, and about ten miles north 
of Hausach, terminates in a plain of vast extent, 
and of such fertility, as to be entitled la Cam- 
paigne d* or. — The tower of Strasbourg Cathedral 
was distinctly visible in the distance. Between Of- 



256 ACHERN. 

fenburg and Buhl, we passed through Achern, the 
village where the Great Turenne was killed, on the 
27th of July 1675. On the spot where he fell, 
General Moreau, out of respect to his memory, de- 
signed to erect a monument ; it was commenced, but 
never completed. 



LETTER XXXV. 

ItASTADT — CARLSHRUE — ANTIQUITIES AT DURLACH — 
HEIDELBERG PHYSICIAN AT HEPPENHEIM— DARM- 
STADT — FRANKFORT. 

Godesberg, Sept. 3, 1827. 

After leaving Buhl, the first place of any im- 
portance that we came to was Rastadt, memorable as 
being the seat of a congress assembled there in 1798, 
ostensibly for the purpose of settling the affairs of 
Europe. It is a very considerable town, has a fine 
Grand Ducal palace, with a melancholy air of deser- 
tion about it ; while a very handsome street, not less 
than sixty yards broad, traverses it in its whole 
length; the vista, however, is interrupted by the 
principal church, which occupies the centre of the 
street, and by a species of court-house, which fills up 
its northern extremity ; in the intermediate spaces 
are several statues, erected to the memory of persons, 
who, but for these kind memorials of them, would 
most likely have been forgotten long ago. At a short 
distance from Rastadt is Baden, celebrated for its 
mineral waters, which unfortunately we had not time 
to visit In the afternoon we drove to Durlach, pas- 

R 



258 CARLSHRUE — DURLACH. 

sing through Carlshrue in our way. This latter is 
the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden, and con- 
tains a noble Grand Ducal Palace, having in front 
extensive gardens, and something like an English 
park ; while behind it extends a vast forest, which 
is intersected by numerous drives, all of which con- 
verge to the great tower of the palace as their cen- 
tre. Carlshrue, like Rastadt, is traversed by a fine 
broad street, but it contains a much better display of 
houses, and it is surprising what an air of neatness 
is communicated to it by a regular side pavement for 
foot passengers. On either side of the town, the ap- 
proach for three miles is lined by double rows of 
poplars, the largest I ever saw. The country, in its 
vicinity, is very rich, and is bounded to the north- 
ward by a range of gently sloping hills, whose sides 
are covered with vineyards producing a very good 
wine. Notwithstanding the deserted and triste ap- 
pearance of Durlach, we found a tolerably good inn, 
and were introduced into a spacious saloon, decora- 
ted with festoons of evergreens, not the only remains, 
as our supper testified, of a fete which had been cele- 
brated there the preceding day. Rambling about 
in the evening, as is my wont, whenever we reach 
our resting-place in reasonable time, I gained admis- 
sion (whether a trespasser or not I cannot tell), 
into an extensive grove, containing some of the no- 



HEIDELBERG. 259 

blest pines I ever saw ; in the most shady part of it 
was railed off a square space, appropriated as I found 
to the reception of some Roman antiquities which 
have been discovered in the vicinity ; amongst them 
were several altars ornamented with representations, 
among other subjects, of the labours of Hercules. — 
There were also some monumental columns, the in- 
scriptions on which were, for the most part, very 
rudely carved. The following day brought us to Hei- 
delberg, and on arriving there, though it rained 
heavily, we set out to visit the ruins of the castle and 
the great tun, which every one has heard of. The 
ruins, and their environs, are amongst the most ex- 
tensive and most beautiful you can imagine. Their 
situation is very commanding ; being a high rocky 
eminence, immediately overlooking the Neckar, a 
navigable river, and one whose shores are highly 
celebrated for the rare beauties of scenery which 
they afford. The great entrance of the castle is the 
only part of it which is still entire; two colossal 
statues of warriors, in complete armour, surmount 
the gate-way, and the teeth .of a massy portcullis, 
plated with iron, and just peeping through the crown 
of the arch, still bear a threatening aspect. The in- 
ner court is marked with all the characteristics of 
princely magnificence. The buildings on two of its 
sides represent fronts of Gothic architecture, orna- 

r2 



260 HEIDELBERG. 

merited with numerous statues, some few entire, but 
most of them sadly mutilated. Great pains appear 
to have been bestowed in destroying the main towers 
of the castle ; in spite of all that has been done, 
however, very considerable portions of them remain 
standing. The thickness of the walls is immense, 
and so strong was the cement employed in their 
construction, that although the half of one of the 
towers has been detached from the rest, most likely 
by the aid of gunpowder, as it fell, there it lies, 
an entire unbroken mass of masonry. The cellars 
of the castle are not the least remarkable part of 
the building. The Counts Palatine, who had them 
constructed, must have been great consumers of 
hock, if all the vast tuns they contain were annually 
filled with that excellent juice of the grape ; indeed, 
in support of my supposition, close to the great 
tun is the figure of a jolly looking man, whom 
tradition asserts to have taken fifteen bottles daily 
to his own share. The great tun is, I suspect, small 
when compared with many of the porter butts which 
may be seen in London. Its diameter is 24 feet, and 
its length 33 feet : it has long been empty, and is 
now exhibited only as a memorial of good old times. 
The gardens round the castle, which are extensive, 
and embrace every variety of prospect, are kept in 
excellent order, and are open to the public. 



DARMSTADT. 261 

On the 30th, we journeyed as far as Darmstadt, 
taking our noon-tide repast at Heppenheim, a small 
and exceedingly dirty town on the confines between 
the Duchies of Baden and Darmstadt, where, hav- 
ing occasion for some laudanum, the apothecary 
was so scrupulous as to decline giving me any, 
though, on learning the use to which I intended to 
apply it, he begged to be allowed to prescribe for 
my patient, and as politely declined accepting any 
remuneration. Darmstadt is decidedly the finest 
city we have seen on our homeward journey. The 
streets are as broad as Portland Place in London, 
and intersect one another at right angles. The houses 
are on a large scale, and are, for the most part, se- 
parated one from the other by gardens; which give 
an air of lightness and cheerfulness to the place, not 
often met with in continental cities. The Grand 
Ducal palace terminates the principal street, but, 
beyond its size, has little to give it a superiority over 
many of the palaces (for such they may be called) 
belonging to private individuals. — Darmstadt has 
long been famous as having the best conducted opera 
house in Germany : and, through the complaisance 
of our host, we were admitted to a rehearsal of a 
new opera, which was to be performed for the first 
time in public the following Sunday. When we 
entered the theatre, the performance was already 



262 DARMSTADT. 

begun. Being only a night of rehearsal, the house 
was not regularly lighted, and the performers were 
all in their ordinary dresses; save one, who, standing 
immediately over the orchestra, with the music of 
the piece before him on a stand, continued to beat 
time with a short black wand ; and, in every respect, 
executed the functions of the leader of the band. 
He was dressed in uniform, had an epaulette on each 
shoulder, and a sword at his side. A person stood 
near him, who seemed to address him in a very re- 
spectful manner ; while he exerted an authority over 
the musicians, which to them must have been far 
from agreeable, for he made them repeat some pas- 
sages four or five times, scolding them in the inter- 
vals for their inattention. He was a mean looking 
little man, bent nearly double with age and infirm- 
ity, — yet he evidently was one in authority. " Who 
is that ?" said I to a person who was sitting near me : 
he regarded me with marked astonishment, and re- 
plied, " Das ist der Grosherstog" # The Sovereign 
of the country presiding over the musical depart- 
ment in a public theatre ! I could only exclaim in- 
wardly, " Oh tempora .!" — We set out early the fol- 
lowing morning, and reached Frankfort in four hours 
and a half. This is a free city, governed by its own 

* That is the Grand Duke. 



STEAM PACKET. 263 

laws. Its territ@ries are very insignificant, includ- 
ing little more than the suburbs. The points where 
the several roads enter them are marked by a high 
round tower and a toll-house. Being a mercantile 
town, the streets present an appearance of consider- 
able activity ; they are, generally speaking, narrow 
and dirty; but one or two may justly be styled 
magnificent. Our stay was too short to admit of 
our examining it at all in detail ; we drove to May- 
ence in the evening, and, finding all the principal 
hotels full, were obliged to take up our quarters at 
one of an inferior rank, where, however, we met 
with clean beds and civil attention. The next day, 
at 8 a. m., we found ourselves forming part of a 
busy bustling crowd on board the steam packet des- 
tined for Coin. As the clock of the cathedral 
sounded the hour, the engine was set a-going, and 
we started at a prodigious rate — little short of six- 
teen miles an hour. Previously to reaching Bingen, 
we did not at all object to this rapidity ; but, from 
thence, it was extremely annoying to see all the 
most interesting objects, which present themselves 
in quick succession on either side of the river, pass- 
ing by us so swiftly as to leave no decided or per- 
manent impression on the memory. The rapidity 
with which we advanced was not unaccompanied with 
danger ; the bed of the river all the way from Bin- 



264 GODESBERG. 

gen to Konigswinter abounding with rocks, some 
visible, and many more barely covered with water. 
After being delayed two hours at Coblentz by the 
officers of the custom-house, we reached Konigs- 
winter at 6 o'clock in the evening, — there left the 
packet, and, procuring a cart, drawn by a cow, to 
convey our luggage, walked through the fields to 
Godesberg, and took up our quarters at the Hotel 
Von Schonen Aussicht, where we propose remaining 
some time. 



LETTER XXXVI. 

GODESBERG ITS ENVIRONS — LEGEND OF DRACHENFELS. 

Godesberg, Sept. 10, 1827. 

We were induced to visit this village, from the 
very favourable accounts we had received of its si- 
tuation, the salubriousness of its mineral waters, 
and the beauty of its environs. We have been far 
from disappointed ; as a proof of which, I shall only 
say, that we have agreed with our honest hostess to 
remain her guests ten days longer. In the mean- 
time, as you cannot personally accompany me in my 
daily rambles, I will endeavour to make you inti- 
mately acquainted with all that meets my observa- 
tion, and you will then be able to determine whether 
Godesberg is not admirably adapted for the tempo- 
rary residence of that numerous class of persons, 
who, wishing to retire, pro tempore, from the toils of 
business, to renovate their shattered health, have, 
at the same time, a taste for the picturesque, or a 
desire to investigate the various phenomena of the 
natural world.— As first in order, and being the first 



266 GODESBERG. 

object which meets my eye on leaving our hotel, I 
must mention the Castle of Godesberg, which crowns 
the summit of a cone-shaped hill rising at the back 
of the village. There is every reason to believe that 
this elevation is not altogether a natural one, but 
that it has been raised at some remote period for the 
purposes of defence. Be this as it may, the ruins 
which now exist are of a date posterior to the Ro- 
man sera ; indeed, they can hardly belong to a date 
much earlier than the eleventh century. The en- 
trance to the interior of the castle is narrow and 
low, in accordance with the caution necessary to be 
observed in all places of defence in that turbulent 
period of history, when each powerful Baron had 
an enemy, perhaps no less powerful, for his nearest 
neighbour. The area within the walls is in the form 
of an oblong quadrangle : on one side of which are 
discernible the remains of a spacious hall, and what 
appears to have been a chapel ; on the opposite side 
it is difficult to say to what the building was ap- 
propriated. It is probable, however, that here was 
that not unimportant part of a Baronial resi- 
dence, the byre or stables, in which were secur- 
ed, either his own cattle, or such as he may have 
been fortunate enough to plunder from his neigh- 
bours. In the centre is a round tower, about 
100 feet high, standing quite free from the rest 



GODESBERG. 267 

of the building. It was formerly much higher, and 
overlooking the outbuildings of the castle, it not on- 
ly served as an admirable watch tower, but also as a 
situation from whence to use with great effect on 
assailants whichever way they approached, the mis- 
sile weapons of the day. — The view from its sum- 
mit is very extensive and beautiful : to the north 
having but the distance to intercept the prospect ; 
and extending southward up the romantic valley of 
the Rhine, and having full in front the " castled 
"crags of Drachenfels." Descending from the 
castle, I must now introduce you to the source 
of mineral waters ; — which lies at the extremity of a 
pretty avenue of plane and poplar trees conducting 
to it from the village. It was formerly unprotected 
and accessible even to cattle ; but when its virtues 
became more known and appreciated, the archbishop 
of Coin, who is proprietor of the soil, built over 
it a neat alcove, and sinking a circular basin about 
it, protected it from the abuses to which it had been 
previously exposed. The water is a calybeate, as the 
rusty colour of the stones through which it bubbles 
upwards sufficiently indicate; it contains different 
proportions of carbonic, muriatic and sulphuric 
gases, which contribute to make it pleasant to the 
taste as well as highly beneficial to the digestive or- 
gans, for restoring a proper tone to which is its 



268 DRACHENFELS. 

chief characteristic. It is the only palatable water 
which is to be met with in the village, and the heal- 
thy appearance of the inhabitants bears a very fa- 
vourable testimony to its good properties : various 
instances of extreme longevity at present exist, all 
attributed by the persons themselves to the daily ha- 
bit of using the mineral waters at all their meals. 
Two tumblers full may safely be taken at a time, 
and if regularly drank every morning half an hour 
before breakfast, not only beget a good appetite for 
that meal, but communicate a degree of elasticity to 
the whole system, the happy effects of which are 

felt during the whole day. On the 6th instant, 

I walked to Drachenfels, the steepest and most rug- 
ged, though not the highest of the seven mountains, 
which figure as the termination or commencement 
(whichever you will) of a range of mountains ex- 
tending upwards on the east bank of the Rhine, as 
far as Rudesheim. Its height is 1400 feet above 
the level of the river, and as it rises very abruptly 
from its shore, the ascent is difficult, and would be 
fatiguing to any one not in the habit of quaffing am- 
brosial nectar at the fountain of Godesberg. The 
views which present themselves at various points of 
the ascent, serve as an excellent excuse for occasion- 
ally resting and recovering breath ; while the splen- 
did view which displays itself from the summit, is 



DRACHENFELS. 269 

more than a reward for the trouble of attaining to 
it. The windings of the Rhine do not admit of a 
very extensive prospect upwards, but that which 
they do disclose is so beautiful as to compensate ef- 
fectually for the want of extent. In the opposite di- 
rection, Coin, which is more than twenty miles dis- 
tant, is distinctly visible ; while the rich plain be- 
neath, terminated on one side by a richly wooded 
range of hills, and on the other by the broad bosom 
of the ever winding river, ornamented moreover 
with numerous villages, chateaux, modern and an- 
cient, and the town of Bonn, with its noble electoral 
palace and cathedral, constitute the most consider- 
able, as well as the most gratifying, portion of the 
picture. The great antiquity of the castle of Drach= 
enfels is apparent from the few remains which exist 
at this day; but if any thing is wanting to con- 
firm its antiquity, it is supplied by the wondrous 
story relating to it, which has been handed down 
from generation to generation, no doubt with oc- 
casional additions and embellishments, and is still 
current among the credulous. These legends, though 
usually enveloped in the follies of superstitious ig- 
norance, are yet seldom without some foundation in 
fact. The rock of Drachenfels bears various marks 
of volcanic influence; and one is induced to believe 
that it must at some remote period have been the 



270 DRACHENFELS. 

site of a volcanic eruption. Of such an event, how- 
ever, there is no historical account, nor any straight 
forward tradition, yet it appears to be hinted at in 
the legend which attaches to the place ; and is a& 
follows: "Drachenfels (literally Dragon's Rock) was 
" once the abode of a ferocious dragon, to prevent 
u whose promiscuous ravages over the surrounding 
" country, it was found necessary to sacrifice to the 
" jaws of the monster an annual human victim, who 
" was chosen from among the neighbouring inhabi- 
" tants, by lot. It happened on one occasion that the 
" lot fell on a young man remarkable for his piety, 
" who on being chained to the rock, near the mouth 
" of the dragon's den, prayed earnestly to his God 
" for deliverance. The dragon appeared at the mouth 
" of his cavern, and there paused a moment, eyeing, 
" with savage delight, the unfortunate being who was 
" shortly to gratify his taste for human food. The 
" youth had time to offer up one more fervent prayer, 
" when the earth opened at the feet of the dragon, 
" and a column of fire issuing from the cleft fell on the 
" monster and consumed him in a moment." Now 
leaving it to others to unriddle the dragon, I would 
venture a supposition, that the column of fire points to 
a volcanic eruption, the effects of which are visible to 
this day. — Nearest to the Drachenfels is the Loewen- 
berg, or lions mountain, consisting of a fine grained 



ROLANDSEC. 271 

rock, very much resembling the closest lava, and 
highly esteemed for building. The cathedral of 
Coin is constructed of stone from this mountain ; 
numerous workmen are constantly employed at 
the quarries, by whose labours, and those of their 
predecessors for many generations, the height of 
the mountain has been very considerably reduced. — 
Our next excursion was to Rolandsec and Nonnen- 
werth, the latter a small island in the river, containing 
a large and handsome building, once, as its name im- 
ports, a convent, but now secularised into an inn. — - 
The latter is all that remains of an ancient castle, 
crowning a high basaltic rock, which rises on the 
shore immediately over against the island. The le- 
gend attaching to these two places is so interesting 
that I shall make it the subject of my next letter. 



LEGEND OF ROLANDSEC. 

" The castle of Ochenfels, on the right bank of 
" the Rhine, was the abode of a warlike Baron of 
" that name. He had an only daughter, Hildegun- 
" de, on whom nature seemed to have bestowed all 
" her choicest and most valuable gifts. One beauti- 
" ful evening, in the month of May, the brave Ro- 
" land, nephew of Charlemagne, arrived at the castle 
" on a visit which he had announced the preceding 
" day. Nothing was omitted which could in any way 
" contribute to the brilliancy of his reception, and to 
" testify the Baron's acknowledgment of the honour 
" conferred on him by a visit from so distinguished 
" a person. Hildegunde herself, then aged seven- 
" teen years, the roses of beauty mantling on her 
" cheeks, presented him at the castle gate with the 
M cup of welcome, with all the grace, elegance and 
" modesty, which naturally belong to that enchant- 
" ing age. The fame of her virtue and beauty had 
" already reached the ears of this renowned hero : 
" and predisposed to admire, it is no wonder that 



LEGEND OF ROLANDSEC. 273 

" he yielded himself a willing captive to charms so 
" engaging. To see, to love, and to claim her as his 
" bride, was but the work of a moment. The de- 
** mand was no less cheerfully obeyed by the fair 
" Hildegunde than by her father, who was rejoiced 
" at the idea of wedding his child to so estimable a 
" man, the model of all that was virtuous and brave. 
ft On the following day, the nuptials were celebrat- 
" ed with great pomp, and nothing seemed wanting 
* to render the happiness of the lovers complete. — 
" But, alas ! while all the company were sitting in 
K the banqueting hall, enjoying the pleasures of the 
" table, a messenger is announced from the Emper- 
" of to his nephew, bringing information that the 
" Saxons had penetrated into Franconia, and orders 
66 that, on the following morning, Roland should be 
" at Engelheim to take the command of the army, 
" destined to punish this act of aggression. No time 
" was to be lost : a tender farewell, and the promise 
" of a speedy return, was hastily given. At break 
" of day, Roland is at Engelheim, and by night- 
" fall, his army winds along the banks of the Main. 
" Hildegunde finding no consolation but in prayer, 
" prostrates herself before the image of her patron 
" Saint, and implores for her dear Roland a success- 
" ful campaign and a speedy return. Two months 



274 LEGEND OF ROLANDSEC. 

" were not elapsed when the whole country resound- 
" ed with the fame of Roland's valour. " ' Yet 
" * one battle," ' (thus he writes to his Hildegunde) 
" ' Yet one battle, the war will be at end, and I shall 
* « fly on the wings of love to lay my hard won lau- 
" ' rels at your feet.' * " In effect, after another 
" month, the total defeat of the Saxons is publicly 
" announced, and Roland is said to have wrought 
"prodigies of valour. Hildegunde counts the days 
" and hours in momentary expectation of pressing 
" her husband to her faithful bosom ; when one 
" evening there arrives at her father's castle, an 
" unknown knight who requests admission : his 
" panache was black, and he wore a scarf of black 
" crape. Brave knight, said Hildegunde, as she 
" presented to him the cup of welcome, for whom 
" do you mourn ? For the bravest of men, was 
" his reply, — for Roland, my brother in arms, 
" who fell at my side, in the thickest of the combat. 
"Holy Virgin ! she cried, not my Roland, — my 
" husband ! His last words, replied the knight in 
" broken accents, were Hildegunde and Ochen- 
" fels. At these words she fell lifeless on the pave- 
" ment, and was conveyed, in a state of insensibili- 
" ty, to her apartment in the castle. On recover- 
" ing from her swoon, she was seized with a dan- 
" gerous illness which conducted her to the very 



LEGEND OF ROLANDSEC. 275 

" threshold of the grave ; she regained, however, her 

" health, and immediately executed a purpose, which 

" she had long secretly resolved upon in case her hus- 

" band should fall, retired to the convent of Nonnen- 

" werth, and taking the veil, bade a final adieu to the 

" world. — The vintage was over, the trees were almost 

" leafless, the Rhine was agitated by the impetuous 

u blasts of a November's storm, when one morning 

" there arrived at the gates of the castle of Ochen- 

" fels, with a numerous suit, arrayed in a superb 

" suit of armour, and mounted on an Arabian 

" charger, a knight who demanded admittance as a 

" friend. It is Roland, who, as the unknown 

M knight had truly announced, had fallen in the last 

" battle, and being dangerously wounded, had lain 

u long on the confines of death. His first business on 

" the partial restoration of health, was to proceed, 

" with all the haste that his emaciated frame could 

" endure, to claim his affianced bride. What a re- 

" ception does he meetwith ! — What dire intelligence 

" awaits him :— Hildegunde is lost to him for ever, 

" and with her the happiness of his existence. — Three 

" days he gives himself a prey to the most poignant 

" grief, and incapable of receiving consolation, he re- 

" solves to build a hermitage on the rocky height over- 

" looking the convent, there to spend the gloomy re- 

s2 



276 LEGEND OF ROLANDSEC. 

" rftainder of his days. Here, for hours together, 
" he would sit fixing his eyes on the convent be- 
" neath, as if they could penetrate the walls which 
" contained the lost object of his affections. In the 
" mean time,' Hildegunde, informed of his return, 
" became a prey to desolating grief, and expires. 
" One day, sitting as usual at the window overlook- 
" ingthe convent, he discovers in the burial ground, 
" a new made grave : a bier covered with a pall 
" issues from the cloisters, followed by a long pro- 
\\ cession of nuns : they approach the grave, and 
" lower the coffin into it, — Roland, informed of her 
" death, indeed he was inwardly persuaded of it by 
" what he had seen, throws himself on his couch, 
" and in three days afterwards is found a stiffened 
" corpse." 



LETTER XXXVIL 

ENVIRONS OF GODESBERG UNIVERSITY OF BONN— DE- 
PARTURE FROM GODESBERG. 

Godesberg, Sept 20, 1827. 

Many of the hills in this neighbourhood consist of 
basaltic columns, which, however, are for the most 
part small, and irregular in form, some being four, 
some five, and some six-sided. Near Remagen, how- 
ever, there is a bed of them, very large and ex- 
tremely regular, as I was enabled to judge from 
some specimens I saw in the museum at Popples- 
dorf.— About three miles south of Godesberg is the 
crater of an extinct volcano, which though not men- 
tioned in history, must have been one of considerable 
magnitude. The crater is half a mile in diameter, 
nearly circular, and the hills which constitute its 
sides are entirely composed of ashes and lava. The 
bottom of the crater, instead of streams of boiling 
lava, or columns of dense smoke, now presents a 
scene of a very opposite nature : it is occupied by a 
considerable farming establishment, surrounded by 
a rich meadow, prettily diversified with clumps of 



278 CRATER OF A VOLCANO. 

coppice wood. There is besides, what astonished me 
very much, a great deal of stagnant water, of a deep 
ferrugineous colour, and which I would have tasted, 
but that it looked so exceedingly dirty : seeing a 
woman at work in a garden, I inquired if they had 
good water in that singular situation, and received 
an answer in the affirmative : I hoped my question 
might have been taken as a hint that I was thirsty 
(it most certainly would in Italy) : but no, I was 
obliged to be more explicit, and ask plainly for a 
draught of water ; the inhospitable creature pointed 
to the house, and said I could get some there, but 
did not deign to move a step : I accordingly direct- 
ed my steps thither, ready to do any thing, at once 
to satisfy my thirst and curiosity; but as I approach- 
ed the door, two furious mastiffs rushed from their 
kennels, and seemed as if they would break their 
chains in their eagerness to get at me. Seeing no one 
to soothe these savage monsters, I was compelled un- 
willingly to retire with my thirst unquenched, and 
my curiosity, as to the quality of the water which 
could be found in the crater of an extinct volcano, as 
keen, and perhaps, from the impossibility of gratify- 
ing it, keener than ever. — About a mile to the north 
of our village, in the line of hills extending towards 
Belgium, are some allum works which have been in 
operation about 14 years. I came upon them by 



ALLUM WORKS. 279 

accident in one of my rambles, being guided by a 
strong sulphureous odour which proceeded from 
them. A bed of gravel ten feet thick constitutes the 
upper stratum, beneath that is a stratum of fossil 
wood about the same thickness, and under that a 
bed of manganese, which, besides bitumen, has been 
discovered to contain a very considerable quantity 
of allum. It is extracted in the following manner : 
The soil containing it is burned in the open air, by 
which process the bitumen is entirely got rid of: it 
is then mixed with water, and the mixture being 
well stirred about, the earthy particles are allowed 
to subside, and the water being drawn off, is boiled 
for a considerable length of time, a small quantity of 
kali being added to it. It is then put into coolers, 
and deposits the allum in a state of crystal) zation ; 
this is taken out, well washed, and then consigned 
again to the boiler, where it undergoes a complete 
purification, and on being emptied into small coolers, 
it forms a thick coat of allum on the sides and bot- 
tom of them, and is then fit for exportation. The 
fossil wood forms a very useful auxiliary in the fore- 
going process : being bruised tolerably small, it is 
mixed with water to the consistency of clay, put in- 
to moulds like a common flower pot, and then 
turned out in the sun to dry : when quite hard it is 
an excellent substitute for coal. This stratum of 



280 UNIVERSITY OF BONN. 

fossil wood, looks like the refuse of a thousand tim- 
ber yards all thrown together. Many masses of 
wood are so entire that it is easy to say of what spe- 
cies it is : a great deal of sulphate of iron in thin 
laminae is found mixed with it. The colour is near- 
ly black, and a piece of the fossil wood, on being ex- 
posed to the flame of a candle, ignites like coal, and 
emits a disagreeable sulphureous odour. 

The University of Bonn is of recent establish- 
ment, but, owing to the great discernment displayed 
by the Government of his Prussian Majesty in the 
choice of Professors, has already acquired great re- 
putation. The number of students at present is be- 
tween nine hundred and a thousand : the two pro- 
fessions of law and physic are chiefly attended to ; 
and, in the latter department, Professor Walther, a 
Bavarian, is looked up to as a prodigy of science and 
skill. The German Universities not being very re- 
markable for the strictness of their discipline, I in- 
quired of one, well qualified to speak on the subject, 
how the young men at Bonn conducted themselves, 
and whether they were to be classed along with the 
riotous students of Heidelberg and some other places 
in Germany. He replied, with some warmth, that 
there existed nowhere a better conducted set of 
young men ; to be sure they were rather quarrelsome 
among themselves, and that a day seldom passed 



UNIVERSITY OF BONN, 281 

that did not witness two or three duels. " Duels !" 
I exclaimed ; — " What ! real duels ?" " Oh certain- 
ly." " But with what weapons?'* " The sabre." 
* 6 And is there," I asked, ■" no possibility of stopping 
so pernicious a practice ?" " No." " But, of course," 
I continued, " when any duelling parties are discov- 
ered, the principals at least are expelled ?" " Oh 
no," was my friend's reply ; — " There are four offi- 
cers who have nothing to do but to continue on the 
look-out for such occurrences ; and when they hap- 
pen to fall upon a duelling party (which is very sel- 
dom), they command instant cessation of hostilities 
in the name of the college authorities, and, more- 
over, cite them, seconds and principals, before the 
council. There accordingly they appear to receive 
the terrible sentence of the law, which is one, two, 
or three days imprisonment, according to circum- 
stances, unless the parties give their word of honour 
not to prosecute the quarrel any farther ; in which 
case they are dismissed with a slight reprimand, and 
are at full liberty to begin another quarrel ere they 
get fairly out of the council chamber, and fight it 
out as soon as opportunity is afforded them." After 
hearing this account, it did not at all excite my 
astonishment to be told, that, about two years ago, 
no less than 280 duels were fought by the students 
at Bonn in the short space of three months. — The 



282 BONN, 

Chateau of Popplesdorf, about half a mile from Bonn, 
and connected with it by a fine broad avenue of horse 
chesnut trees, is a noble palace, formerly a country 
residence of the Elector of Coin. It is now used 
as a museum of natural history ; while the extensive 
gardens which surround it are, with admirable pro- 
priety, also appropriated to scientific purposes, and 
are converted into a well conducted and richly stor- 
ed botanical garden ; which, while it contains all 
that is required for the elucidation of the history of 
the vegetable kingdom, is free from that stiffness 
which usually characterizes gardens appropriated to 
scientific purposes. The museum, though in its in- 
fancy, is especially rich in the mineralogical depart- 
ment. — The Electoral Palace at Bonn is also appro- 
priated to the service of the university. It is an 
immense building, having a facade not less than a 
quarter of a mile in length : it contains the univer- 
sity library, affords apartments for the Professors, 
and spacious saloons for the delivery of their lec- 
tures. A new theatre of anatomy has recently been 
erected in the palace gardens on a very complete 
plan. It is in the form of a Greek cross ; having, 
in the centre, a circular hall lighted by a dome 
from above, and capable of accommodating easily 
two hundred students. The limbs of the cross af- 
ford some small dissecting rooms for the private use 



ENVIRONS OF GODESBERG. 283 

of the Professors, and a hall for a collection of spe- 
cimens illustrative of the science of pathology. 
Many of these are as disgusting as they are curious ; 
and it is probable that the unfortunate being who 
now exhibits it to strangers, may, ere the lapse of 
many years, be exhibited in his turn, as one of the 
most extraordinary productions of nature it contains. 
I have now done with Godesberg, of which, and 
its environs, I shall ever entertain a pleasing recol- 
lection. It is a place that needs only to be known 
to be admired and resorted to. Beautiful walks in- 
vite the pedestrian in every direction. The humble 
admirer of nature in her simplest garb will here find 
wherewith to amuse himself for weeks : the antiquary 
may run riot among ruined castles ; and, if he be an 
adventurous one, may perhaps be fortunate enough 
to lose his life in discovering a subterraneous pas- 
sage, which tradition asserts to have existed between 
Godesberg and Drachenfels, running under the bed 
of the Rhine in its course. The geologist will find 
much to interest him ; for, in whichever direction he 
rambles, he is sure to hit upon some of the wonders 
of nature. And, last of all, the searcher after health 
will not have reason to regret a visit to this place ; 
the climate is bracing, and the waters very salubri- 
ous. There are two inns, both I believe good in 
their way, but experimentally I can only speak of 



284 DEPARTURE FROM GODESBERG. 

the Schonen Aussicht, where we have uniformly 
met with good society, and careful attention on the 
part of the respectable hostess and her domestics.— 
In a word, tranquillity reigns throughout, invites to 
meditation, and constitutes, in my humble opinion, 
the strongest recommendation to this justly esteemed 
sejour de campagne. 

I now bring my letters to a close. We intend 
leaving this place in a few days, and, proceeding to 
Rotterdam, where we landed last spring twelve 
months, take our passage on board one of the steam 
packets for London. — Vale. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I* 

The Council of Basle was assembled under Pope Martin 
the V., in conformity with one of the ordinances of the pre- 
ceding Council at Constance ; which decreed, that another 
Council should be held, within seven or ten years, for keep- 
ing matters in the settled state into which that Council had 
put them. Mr. Skinner, in his Scottish Ecclesiastical 
History, gives us the following sketch of some of its pro- 
ceedings :— *-" The first thing they did was, to confirm 
their superiority over the Pope, by repeating the famous 
decree of Constance," to that effect. (See Appendix No. 
II.) The renewing the supremacy of the Council, so 
highly mortifying to Papal pride, irritated Pope Eugenius 
the IV., who had succeeded Martin, to that degree, that, 
though he had at first given his countenance to the Coun- 
cil's sitting, he now published a bull for dissolving it. — 
This began a woful quarrel : the Council fighting against 
the Pope with citations and threatening^, and the Pope 
defending himself the best way he could with his usual 
weapons of bulls and excommunications. When the 
rupture was thus found to be incurable, the Council chose 

* See Letter V. p. 31. 



286 APPENDIX. 

the Cardinal of Aries their president ; and after struggl- 
ing for some years with Eugenius, who all the time shuffled 
and prevaricated, in such a way as disgusted the few 
friends he had, the president at last, in the name of the 
Council, pronounced a formal sentence of deposition 
against him, in which they declare him " contumacious, 
" disobedient to the decrees of the universal church, vio- 
" lator of the holy canons, disturber of ecclesiastical peace 
" and unity, simoniac, perjured, incorrigible schismatic, 
" pertinacious heretic, injurious to the Holy See," &c. 
And then they unanimously elected Amadeus, Duke of 
Savoy, who, out of devotion, had resigned his dominions 
to his son ; and, upon his being now chosen Pope, took 
the name of Felix the V. 

To this succeeded a contest of great asperity and long 
duration, in which all Europe was involved, and which 
was finally terminated by the voluntary resignation of 
Felix, on the elevation of Nicolas the V. to the " chair 
of St. Peter," vacated by the death of Martin. 



APPENDIX. 



No. II. 

The great number of very important matters, debated 
and settled at this General Council^ will make the follow- 
ing brief outline of its proceedings, extracted from the 
Rev. John Skinner's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, 
be read with interest : — 

" To remedy these disorders,* if possible, the Emperor 
" Sigismund, who countenanced the residenter at Rome, 
" prevailed with John, partly by persuasion, partly by 
" threats, to call a Council. Which accordingly he did, 
" and appointed it to meet at Constance in Germany, in 
" the month of December, 1414. This was a numerous 
" convention, and sat a long time, f Delegates were 
" sent to it from all the nations of the three obediences, 
" and they put a great deal of business through their 
" hands. John was the only Pope who appeared at it, 
" and, for some sessions, was allowed the honour to pre- 

* The actual existence, at the same time, of three Popes, viz. 
John at Rome, Gregory at Rimini, and Benedict at Avignon. 
f Until the year 1418. 



288 APPENDIX. 

" side in it, — till, finding how matters were like to go, 
" he threw off his pontifical habit, and fled out of Con- 
" stance in disguise. But, not being in a condition to 
" dispute the Council's proceedings, he submitted to their 
" discipline, confirmed their sentences, and resigned the 
" chair. In the eighth session, the Council, after exam- 
" ination, condemned WicklifTs doctrines, stigmatized his 
" memory, and ordered his bones, if they could be distin- 
" guished, to be taken up and burnt. This was, at best, 
" but a pitiful revenge, and shows to what lengths of ill— 
" nature superstition will go. It is true these doctrines 
" gave great offence, both from the nature of them, and 
" the reception they were now meeting with. They had 
"been carried into Bohemia by a gentleman of that coun- 
" try, who had studied at Oxford in WicklifTs time : and 
" some years after, one Peter Paine, an Englishman, went 
" over to Bohemia with WicklifTs writings, and made a 
" great number of converts there to his persuasion. 

" Among others who espoused these tenets, Was John 
" Huss, a Bohemian divine, and a man of great character 
" for learning and probity. He was Principal of the CoT- 
" lege of Prague, and much esteemed by Wenceslaus, 
" king of Bohemia, who was the emperor's elder brother. 
" But, being suspected of favouring Wickliff and oppos- 
" ing transubstantiation, he was summoned to the Coun- 
" cil, and came to it, under the protection of a solemn 
" safe-conduct from the Emperor, which Wenceslaus in- 
" sisted on, both for his going and returning, before he 



APPENDIX. 289 

" would send him. Here he was again and again exam- 
" ined upon the condemned articles, and numbers of cap- 
" tious and ensnaring questions were put to him ; all which 
" he answered in the scholastic style, so as neither to de- 
" ny his doctrine in the main, nor yet lay himself open 
" to a plain and direct conviction of heresy, notwithstand- 
" ing the cunning attempts made by the Cardinal of 
" Cambray, who now presided in the Council, to entrap 
" him by metaphysical distinctions and subtleties of Aris- 
" to tie. Yet as Huss was a man of some eminence, and 
" his abilities dangerous, he was found guilty by the Coun- 
" cil, and, according to form, delivered over to the secu- 
" lar arm : upon which he was degraded, and, by the ex- 
" press sentence of the very man who had given him his 
" protection, publicly burnt at the stake. 

" Another great and general topic of clamour against 
" this Council of Constance, is their making a formal 
* decree to debar the Laity from partaking of the euchar- 
" istic cup. It seems this practice, so confessedly con- 
" trary to positive command and continued obedience 
" for many ages, had been, by connivance and corrupt 
" interpretation, gradually creeping into the Romish 
" Church. But, hitherto, there had been no interposi- 
" tion of express authority about it ; and many remon- 
" strances had been made, and petitions offered against 
" it, where it had been imperceptibly introduced, There- 
" fore, to bar the door for the future against any expec- 
" tation of the old and instituted privilege of receiving 

T 



290 APPENDIX. 

" the communion of the blood of Christ, in and by the 
" sanctified cup of blessing, this assembly boldly decrees, 
" * that it is not to be doubted but that the body and 
" blood of Christ are entire, under the single and sepa- 
" rate species of either the bread or the wine ;' pronounces 
" them heretics who shall affirm the contrary ; and ex- 
" communicates any of the Clergy who shall, after this, 
" take upon them to communicate the Laity in both 
" kinds. This impudent decree, in direct opposition to 
" an express institution of Christ, will be a lasting re- 
" proach to the Council of Constance. 

" But the original design of their assembling has caused 
" a strange division. This was to put an end to the un- 
" happy schism which had lasted so long, and which they 
" saw could not be closed by abetting either of the com- 
" petitors, or admitting any plea, just or not, that they 
" could make for themselves. They therefore resolved 
" to set all the three (Popes) aside, and, in order to lay a 
" proper foundation for this arduous undertaking, they 
" solemnly decree, < that this Synod, being assembled 
" under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, constituting a 
" lawful general Council, and representing the Catholic 
'< Church militant, has an immediate authority from 
" Christ : to which Synodical authority all persons, of 
" what degree, quality, or order soever, the Papal Dig- 
" nity not excepted, are bound to submit in things relat- 
" ing to faith and extirpation of schism, and in whatever 
" tends to a reformation of manners in the Church, both 
" in the head and members.' " 



APPENDIX. 291 

" It was in consequence of this bold decree that they 
" proceeded to the actual deposition of all the three pre- 
" tending Popes, and unanimously elected Martin the V. 
" in their stead. So Gregory resigned his title, after some 
" little contest, and died at Recanati before the Council 
" broke up. John was cast into prison, but made his 
" escape, and went to Florence, where he threw himself 
" at the new Pope's feet, by whom he was made a Cardi- 
" nal, and died soon after. But Benedict, the oldest of 
" the three, still maintained his claim, and gave Martin 
" no little trouble for seven years. 



t2 



APPENDIX. 



No. III. 

TREATMENT OF SILK WORMS. 

The following statement, partly translated from the 
Italian, and partly the result of my own inquiries, will be 
found to contain all that is most essential in the rearing 
and treatment of this most wonderful insect. To begin ab 
ovo. In the choice of eggs, those that are heavy, and ra- 
ther verging to a violet colour, should be preferred. When 
the mulberry trees are putting out their leaves, take the 
eggs from their winter repository (which should be a cool 
but dry place) and spread them to the thickness of a quarter 
of an inch in open boxes made of pasteboard, that hasno^- 
ing in it : place the boxes in a room having a uniform at- 
mosphere of 67° Fahrenheit, which must.be daily increased 
two degrees until it amount to 79°, and move the eggs 
gently with the finger twice a day, until they begin to 
hatch, which will be in ten or twelve days. When this is 
the case, cover the boxes, which must not be more than 
an inch deep, with a piece of coarse muslin, so coarse as 
to admit the passage of the worms. Upon this, place a 
small twig of mulberry; to this the worms will be attract- 



APPENDIX. 293 

ed, and in a short time its leaves will be covered with 
them ; when this is the case, remove it to a frame already 
prepared for its reception ; and put a fresh twig in its 
place, which, in like manner, will be occupied by the 
worms as they hatch. And it will be well to keep those 
hatched on different days, in separate frames. The room 
in which the worms are to live, should have windows down 
to the ground, and moreover, furnished with ventilators. 
A fire-place is also indispensable. The tables on which 
theVorms are spread, should be two feet wide, and have a 
rim round the edges, about two inches high, to prevent 
their wandering. These may be suspended, one above the 
other, (leaving, however, at least two feet between each 
two) all round the room, and up the middle of it. Dur- 
ing the first fortnight, the temperature of the room should 
never, night nor day, be lower than 75° nor higher than 
80° of Fahrenheit. A rapid change from heat to cold is 
more prejudicial to the worms than a steady continuance 
of an excess of either one or the other. — During its 
existence as a caterpillar, the silk-worm sleeps four 
several times : its first sleep lasts only one day, its 
second two, its third three, its fourth four and five days. 
On awaking each time, they change their skins, or as 
the Italians expresses it, put off their dirty shirt. When 
the worms awake from their third sleep the tempera- 
ture may be reduced to 67°, and from their fourth to 
65°, if the state of the weather will permit. The frames 
.should never be near the fire-place, otherwise, while the 



294 APPENDIX. 

rest of the room is at a temperature of 75°, they may 
be in one of 85°, or even more. The worms must never 
be crowded together ; to avoid which, as they grow larg- 
er, let new tables be ready to remove them to, from time 
to time. Every other day their bed (coarse brown paper 
spread over the wicker work) must be cleaned, and the 
best way of doing this is always to have an extra frame : 
beginning with the first, remove all the worms into 
the extra frame, then clear away their dirt, and plac- 
ing the worms of the second frame into that which has 
just been cleared, proceed through the whole room. — 
Up to the second sleeping the worms must be fed seven 
times every twenty-four hours, with mulberry leaves 
cut small. After that to the fourth sleeping six times in 
twenty-four hours is sufficient, and the leaves need not be 
cut so small as before. When they awake from their 
fourth and last sleep, they must be fed five times in twen- 
ty-four hours with whole leaves. — Wet leaves, or leaves 
from the extremities of the branches (as being too juicy) 
should not be given to them : indeed rather than give 
them wet food, it is preferable to leave them without 
food altogether for a certain length of time; it having 
been proved that they suffer little inconvenience from 
fasting even as much as forty-eight hours. — The silk worm, 
when its sleeping time approaches, disregards food, and 
holds its head erect ; and as all do not sleep at the same 
time, it will be necessary always to sprinkle lightly a few 
leaves over them, that those which are not drowsy may 



APPENDIX. 295 

still eat. From the third waking it is necessary to be 
constantly on guard against closeness of air: in a few 
minutes, it may destroy a whole room full of worms. 
To prevent this, take care to ventilate the chamber well ; 
and for this purpose there is nothing more effectual than 
occasionally setting fire to a handful of straw or shavings 
in the fire-place, and at the same time swinging the door 
backwards aud forwards. — When the worms wake the 
fourth time throw open the windows, and close them no 
more, except momentarily during a storm, until they be- 
gin to spin. The chamber should be swept out daily, 
but as dust is hurtful, it should be previously sprinkled 
with water. Perfumes of any sort are highly prejudicial 
to the worms. After the fourth waking must be prepar- 
ed the bosco or wood ; which is composed of small dry 
twigs mixed with some unthrashed straw : these should 
be ranged along the middle of the frame (taking great 
care not to injure the worms in the operation, which are 
now very tender) and contrived so as to reach to the 
frame immediately above. As the worms become ripe, as 
it is termed, they leave their food, and betaking them- 
selves to the bosco, begin forthwith to spin : during this 
operation they must be disturbed as little as possible; 
and the bossole or webs which they weave, must not be 
detached from the bosco in less than eight days. When 
all have been taken off, select such as you think best cal- 
culated for continuing the species, and place them in a 
warm room by themselves ; and the rest must be put in- 



296 APPENDIX. 

to a slow oven ; the heat of which will not only destroy 
the chrysalis, but dry it up so as to prevent putrefaction 
in future. — In twenty days the moths will eat their way 
out of those bossole which you have selected and placed 
as above. The males are small and the females nearly 
double the size : they must be left together two hours, 
when the females must be taken away from the males 
and placed on a sheet suspended from the wall, where 
they will almost immediately commence depositing their 
eggs ; when they have done they will fall down, and may 
be then destroyed. — To detach the eggs from the sheet, 
steep it for a few minutes in strong wine (perhaps ale 
might do as well) and then scrape them off with a blunt 
knife ; place them in boxes impervious to mice or ants, 
and lay them up for the winter in a dry cellar. 



APPENDIX. 



No. IV. 



MODES OE TRAVELLING. 



There are three modes of travelling on the Continent, 
Post, Vetturino, and by the Diligence, each of which I 
will consider in its turn. First of all, travelling post pre- 
supposes the possession of a carriage ; an English chariot, 
if but lightly laden, and containing not more than three 
persons, is seldom obliged to take more than three horses, 
unless in mountainous countries, when they are never al- 
lowed to proceed with less than four, and very often the 
post-master, who is an absolute monarch, insists upon 
a fifth. The price of posting is over the whole Continent 
pretty much the same, we will therefore take the French 
Tariffe, which is the most simple, as our guide in estimat- 
ing the expense of posting. Suppose the carriage to be 
a chariot, the travellers not more than three, including 
servants, and the distance to be travelled twenty-five 
posts ; it will be no unfair calculation, to suppose that 
for half of this distance three horses will be considered 
sufficient, while for the other half, four will be required. 
The price per post is 1 franc, 10 sous for each horse : the 



298 APPENDIX. 

postilion will hardly be satisfied with 1 franc, 15 sous, and 

the hostler is allowed 5 sous for every pair of horses. 

Therefore 



F. 


s. 


Three horses - - 4 


10 


Postilion - - - 1 


15 


Hostler not less than - 


10 


Francs 6 


15 



which is equal to about 5s. 6d. of our money : this mul- 
tiplied by 12^, the number of posts in which three horses 
will be allowed by our supposition, gives £3:3: 9. — The 
expense for the last twelve posts and a half will be found, 
according to our supposition, to be £1 : 13 : 9 more (be- 
cause another postilion is to be considered) or £4> : 17:6, 
making on the w r hole for twenty-five posts or fifty leagues 
the sum of £8 : 1:3 ; or as each post is five miles, about 
Is. 3d. per mile. If the travellers happen to be more 
than three in number including servants — four horses 
will always be put on ; and for every one above four will 
be demanded the additional sum of one franc and a-half 
per post ; nor need the traveller expect to get off without 
submitting to all these restrictions, as the privilege of sup- 
plying post horses is paid for, and of course the post 
masters omit no opportunity of increasing their profits. — 
If the carriage be a barouche, it is never permitted to 
proceed with less than four horses, and if the number of 



APPENDIX. 299 

travellers exceed four, six horses are put on. With a 
carnage of this description, therefore, the expense of tra- 
velling twenty-five posts with four persons will amount to 
thirteen pounds, or about two shillings and a penny per 
mile. — The rate of travelling seldom exceeds a post per 
hour ; but by higher paying, the postilions will, where the 
road is good, average a post and a quarter in that time.— 
There can be no question that this is the most agreeable 
mode of travelling, where the country is not interesting; but 
when repeated for several days together becomes not only 
very fatiguing, but produces a sort of nervous excitement 
which is extremely painfuh — We next come to consider the 
Vetturino mode of travelling. This may be done either in 
your own carriage, or in a hired one. The expense is nearly 
the same, being if any thing a little in favour of the latter, 
because in that case the vetturino has a better chance of 
getting employment on his return. On this plan a chariot 
should never have less than three, nor a barouche than four 
horses. — The bargains are usually made for great distances, 
as from Calais to Paris, Marseilles, Milan, Florence, Rome 
and even Naples. The rate of travelling is about seven 
posts, or thirty miles a-day ; and the time occupied, is 
about eight hours, or between that and ten. The usual 
way is to start at six o'clock (in the summer) and travel 
until ten or half past ; lay by for three hours, and perform 
the rest in the afternoon. The prices usually paid are 
twelve francs a-day for each horse, and as many francs a* 
day to the driver as he has horses. Those persons who 



300 APPENDIX. 

wish to travel without having their temper ruffled at every 
inn where they stop, by the exorbitant demands of their 
hosts, will do well to include in their bargain for horses, 
the price of their own living ; nor need they fear being ill- 
treated by their driver, whose livelihood depends on the 
certificates he can produce. The price paid for three 
meals a-day, breakfast of coffee, eggs, milk and butter ; 
lunch of cutlets, fish and potatoes ; and dinner in the even- 
ing, is nine francs for each person ; while, if he pays for 
himself, he will fare much worse on ten. This is a mode 
of travelling which ought to be adopted in countries a- 
bounding with objects of curiosity, and the beauties of 
nature, such as Switzerland, Italy, and some parts of Ger- 
many ; if any of the party are good pedestrians, they may 
always, where occasion requires, leave the main road, and 
fall in with their carriage at the quarters for the night, and 
thus visit many interesting points which travellers by post 
seldom think of. 

The third mode of travelling, viz. by Diligence, can 
seldom be adopted by any but men, as they, for the 
most part, proceed by night as well as by day. They 
are generally well equipped, though heavy lumbering 
machines, and are admirably adapted for men of busi- 
ness, or for those whose object is to be at any given place 
in the least possible space of time. The prices vary but 
little throughout those parts of the Continent where they 
are established : and are for an inside place sixteen sous 
per league, and for a place in the cabriolet, which is by 



APPENDIX. 301 

far the pleasantest, ten sous ; so that the journey above 
spoken of, of fifty leagues, would require an expenditure 
of forty francs, or £1 : 13 for the inside, and twenty-five 
francs, or £1, for a place in the cabriolet. There is be- 
sides this the mail which seldom takes more than one pas- 
senger besides the courier; it is the most expeditious, as 
well as the most expensive mode of getting from one place 
to another. 

There is, in addition to these, a fourth mode of travel- 
ling which is becoming very prevalent wherever it is prac- 
ticable : I mean by steam- The Rhine, the Rhone, and the 
Seine, the lakes of Constance, Geneva, Maggiore, Como, 
and Garda, are all now furnished with commodious steam- 
packets, which facilitate, in an extraordinary degree, the 
communication between this country and the heart of 
the Continent. Twice every week a steam-vessel leaves 
Rotterdam for Mayence, which place it reaches on the 
fourth day ; the descent from Mayence to Rotterdam in 
the summer months only occupying half the time ; so that 
a person may leave Francfort (which is only twenty miles 
from Mayence) and be in London in three days ; a degree 
of expedition, which I believe cannot be equalled even in 
England, where travelling is carried to such perfection. 
The distance between Francfort and London is about five 
hundred miles. There is one inconvenience attending these 
packets, and that is, that they are generally crowded, but 
where there are many in a party, as five or six, it will be 



302 APPENDIX. 

quite as economical and far more agreeable to hire the 
state cabin, which is roomy and quite by itself. The ar- 
riving late at the resting-places for the night is also an 
evil of no slight magnitnde ; as there is always an imme- 
diate rush to the inns to procure beds; and though it 
seldom happens that beds are not to be had, the traveller 
must make up his mind to submit to the grossest imposition 
on the part of the innkeepers. The fare from Rotter- 
dam to Mayence is about two pounds fifteen shillings. — 
A good dinner is served on board at a moderate price, as 
well as breakfast and tea. Arrangements are now mak- 
ing to extend the steam navigation up as high as Stras- 
bourg, which it is expected will be in operation in the ap- 
proaching summer ; and should that be found to answer, 
there can be no doubt that in the course of another year, 
it will be extended even up to Basle. This will indeed be 
bringing Switzerland home to our doors, and will render 
a trip to that enchanting country as easy as it now is to 
go to Paris. The steam-packets on the lake of Constance 
are more for the conveniences of commerce, than for pas- 
sengers ; those on the two lakes of Como and Maggiore, 
at the same time that they convey a great deal of 
merchandise, are timed so as to suit, in an especial manner, 
the convenience of travellers. An attempt has been made 
to open a communication by steam between Marseilles and 
Naples, but the difficulties thrown in the way by the go- 
vernment at the latter place, and the scanty supply of 



APPENDIX. 303 

passengers have succeeded in putting a stop to it. — Per- 
haps the failure may, with great justice, be attributed 
to bad management on the part of the proprietors, and 
it may therefore be expected, that another effort will be 
made on a more liberal scale, when one would imagine 
it could hardly fail to be crowned with success. 



APPENDIX. 



No. V. 

EXPENSE OF LIVING. 

The expense of living on the Continent varies with 
the purposes for which persons or families go abroad. 
The mere searcher after novelty will find that he can gra- 
tify his taste at little less expense than would be required 
in prosecuting the same pursuit in England : with him, 
therefore, I have nothing to do : he, generally speaking, 
keeps no accounts, draws upon his Banker for money 
when he wants it, and is by no means annoyed, even 
though his expenses, at the termination of his tour, be 
discovered to amount to double the sum he originally cal- 
culated upon. But there are numbers of my country- 
men, who, desirous of seeing things and men of other coun- 
tries, are yet unwilling to gratify their propensity coute quHl 
caute; who, in short, wish to travel without going beyond 
their ordinary rate of expenditure. There are others who 
go abroad for the sake of purchasing accomplishments 
for their children at a moderate rate. And there is a 
third and very numerous class, who go to live on the Con- 
tinent, because they cannot afford to live in England as 



APPENDIX. 305 

they would wish to live. To each and all of these three 
classes, the following observations, it is hoped, may be 
found useful : — There can be no doubt that the necessa- 
ries of life are to be purchased all over the Continent at 
a much lower rate than in England. Taking one place 
with another, and one article of consumption with ano- 
ther, the proportion may fairly be stated as two to three. 
And those who go abroad with any other calculation will 
find themselves grievously mistaken. For though the 
price of meat will seldom be found to exceed one half 
of what it is in England, yet colonial produce of every 
description approaches very nearly three-fourths of the 
English price. Besides this, it is one thing to live in your 
own house, surrounded by your own people on whom you 
can depend, and in a hired one in the midst of a people 
who all consider you as fair game, and are interested in 
extracting from you all that they can possibly get hold of. 
There is another thing not often taken into consideration, 
and that is, that persons who have been accustomed to 
live plainly in England, are seduced by the comparative 
cheapness of foreign luxuries, and have their table^ while 
abroad, daily supplied with delicacies, which at home 
would be reserved for particular occasions. For exam- 
ple — the man who, in England, is satisfied with half a 
bottle of port wine at four shillings a bottle, will not take 
less than a whole bottle of claret at the same price, or 
of Burgundy at something more. This is one department 
of luxuries,, and the same may be said of every other. — 

u 



306 APPENDIX. 

The article of house rent is very often left entirely out of 
the calculation (I am always alluding to persons to whom 
calculation is necessary) ; and yet, according to the com- 
mon system adopted by residents abroad, it is an article 
of paramount importance. We are a social nation, and 
usually fix our residence where we are likely to meet with 
the greatest number of our countrymen. In a word, we 
follow the fashion. Who would spend the summer at 
Naples, or the winter in Switzerland ? Who would win- 
ter on the Lake of Como, or spend the summer at Mi- 
lan ? And yet there is no reason in the world why these 
things should not be done. Yet so it is : a person would 
as soon think of being at Naples (Rome is out of the 
question because of the mal aria), Florence, Milan, or in 
Switzerland, out of season, as of combating any of the 
most established rules of fashion in his own country. The 
consequence of all this is, that a family, going to any 
place in Switzerland for four months in summer, pay a 
whole year's rent for their house ; and the same may be 
said of every other place: so that, if they change their 
abode three times, they may fairly be said to pay house 
rent for three years. But, after all, what is the rent which 
they are called upon to pay ? A good house in Switzer- 
land for a family of six persons, besides servants, cannot 
be had under from twelve to fifteen pounds a month for 
five summer months. At Pisa, the same family will not 
get off for less than fifteen, — at Florence, than twenty ; 
while at Rome five-and-twenty pounds a-month is the 

-6 



APPENDIX. 307 

least they must calculate upon. So much for families. 
With respect to single individuals, I will only remark, 
that if a man have £300 per annum, and be a good ma- 
nager, he may always frequent the most fashionable places : 
but then he must be contented to move about from place 
to place by Diligences ; and, where they do not exist, by 
vetturino. 



FINIS. 



Edinburgh : — Duncan Stefenson, 
Printer to the University. 



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